Chaos
by gpshaw
Summary: The Yerk empire, reeling from the loss of Earth has set it's sights on the small planet of Gurwon. The Animorphs and a new host of allies have come to turn the tide. Betrayal, death and destruction ensue...
1. The Politics of War

OK lets give it a go. Here is my next book in the epic (hey I can call it epic if I want) Glass Dagger series. I plan for this to be a co-author project with Lil-Maniac its set about three months after the end of the first story. (Note I will write one more chapter before I turn it over to you Lil-Manic)

Erik

May 17th 2011

8:22 am

War never really leaves your heart. No matter how much you try. You can cover your ears but the screams of those you killed will still echo. You can shut your eyes but you still see the carnage you caused. It's like losing your virginity, a part of you is gone forever and it will never be returned, unlike virginity, however, it is not something you want to lose, or wait to lose to a person who truly deserves it.

You make excuses: the enemy is worse than us, the suffering of one is nothing compared to the suffering of many. No matter how much you use them a part of you always knows that you're lying to yourself. I don't want to meet the man who could do what is done in war and not feel it.

There are times when I think that what I describe on these pages is a punishment for what I did during the Yerk War. Then I realized that while what happened to me was tragic and it hurt, I had received something to help make up for it. Maybe it was fate, or maybe it was just dumb luck but as I write this from shore of Australia I know I have just begun another chain of events.

Senate Chamber, Washington DC

January 14th 2009

1:36 pm.

My name is Erik Bishop. I am a veteran of the Yerk war. A war that involved an invading force of parasitic slugs that could control human beings. In order to fight this war better I was trained in stealth by a man from a race of androids called Chee. About a year into my and my teams fighting by stealth, Becky Thornton was able to build a box that bestowed upon us the power to morph into anything we could touch. It gave us an edge in the war, but it came at the greatest of prices…

My team was created mainly because of the Applegate project, an underground attempt to warn the world of the Yerk's invasion. The project was infiltrated however and it's creators (the Animorphs a group similar to ours) were forced into hiding. By pure chance our two teams united and we staged an invasion of the Yerk Pool the main base of the enemy. We won the battle, and destroyed the pool, it ended that invasion, but the victory came not without sacrifice. I lost my sister and brother-in-law as well as a good friend in that battle.

That was about two years ago but in the time of the US senate it might as well have been a century ago. I had been elected to the senate in a special election to replace a senator who was killed in the attack on the Yerk pool. (A fact that was used by my opponent to attempt to defeat me.). My first act there was to make sure that the US entered the Collation of Planets, an organization that went to fight the Yerks. I also convinced the president to found the Space Force, and with the help of Chanberain (I never can spell that name right) scientists we were able to have ten fully fictional, Z-space capable, war ships as well as four transports.

More were being made, but I knew that we would need to do more as of yet we had only joined as consultants of the Coalition of Planets, the Yerk war bill that I had authored would change that and make us full members, it would also deploy all our ships to the Gurwon home world to aid in the fight to save that planet.

However such an action would be:

"Outlandish, foolish and dangerous," Senate Minority Leader David Miller said. "It is a war that is not ours to fight we must tend to our own interests and none other." Vice president Lesley Barnes turned to me.

"Gentleman from North Carolina your response." He said. I sighed.

"It bewilders me what the gentleman from California finds foolish about my bill. Our space force is not very big but it has no defensive purpose it's only use is to attack enemy planets, both the British and the Spanish have already sent their forces to battle the Yerks, the threat of these creatures is never ending senator, for us to close our eyes and try to ignore the threat is foolish." The debate carried on for an hour, then a well crafted maneuver by the Democrats in Congress sent the motion back to the armed services committee. A six month set back at least since this was the last day of session for five months. I left the senate chamber in a fury.

I had always admired politics but ever since I was elected I found it to be a very stressful job, I still loved it but it was annoying to have so many people oppose any measure that would lead to fighting. I had had my dealings with the peaceniks in my life I ran into them when I teamed up with the Animorphs… But I had expected a little more support from those who had so much to lose.

I was murmuring to myself as I walked to my car flanked by two secret service agents as well as a Hork-Baijar honor guard then I noticed something, the Chanberian Embassy had two guards standing by the door as an afterthought I walked over to the door.

"Is the ambassador in?" I asked. One of the guards nodded and waved me through. I saw the secretary writing on a note pad. I walked over,

"Ma'am." I said. She looked up and smiled.

"Senator Bishop, what a surprise, I assume you want to speak to Jade." I was hard for me to get used to having everyone know my name, but I was learning to accept it.

"Yes Ma'am I would, can you put me through?"

"Sure" She picked up the phone and told Jade she had a visitor Jade was sitting in her office with her finger on the sides of her head.

"Rough day?" I asked.

"Yeah," She said, she was rather short with shoulder length brown hair, she was a very pretty girl. Jade and I had met during the Yerk war we had fought together on a few missions, and saved each others lives a number of times. Jade had been the maid of honor at my wedding. "American/Chanerbain trade is becoming difficult, I hate this job sometimes I have to referee the two most stubborn species in the universe. Not to mention Ian told me he's having the same problems you are getting aid the Gurwons" Her phone rang again.

"Hello, yeah that's ok send him in." The door opened and Jake Bernson walked into the room. He was about a head shorter than me with black hair. When I saw him I almost attacked him right there. He didn't look that happy to see me either.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He said.

"You know I could ask you the same question, you know you've got guts showing up in Washington again, after what you did…" Jake ignored me.

"Jade, I've been trying to get in touch with you, I need to talk with you later." I could tell by the tone of this voice he was going to ask her to join him in some kind of battle.

"Hey Bernson, you know Jade has a life now, you should stop having her fight with you, doesn't your platoon do enough of that."

"As you well know _senator_," He said senator with a venom that made me want to snap his neck. "anyone with access to ships are now allowed to aid in combat, I've procured a ship and I plan to use it to go and fight with my platoon on the Gurwon home world, or anyway I would if you would do your job _senator_."

"Don't bullshit me Bernson, you sure didn't help me get this job."  
"I was concerned for the country I was defending."

"You had a fine way of showing it!"  
"You are not worthy of your job _senator_"

"Fuck you! I earned this job, and I'm doing a hell of a better job than you _general _if anyone doesn't deserve their job it's you. War involves killing, or did you not know that."

"Yeah well at least the people who work with me do what I want, instead of tabling it." I moved to strike him put Jade put a hand on my shoulder.

"Stop it you two!" She snapped. "I know you don't like each other but if you must fight do it outside my office I just got it the way I like it."

"Very well, I have no more to do here," I gave her a two fingered salute. "Ambassador." I gave Jake a middle finger salute. "General." I walked out and got in my car, my SS agents followed. I turned the radio to my wife's show. A voice came over the radio.

"Live from the banks of the Potomac river it's the Karen Bishop show…" There was a brief musical interlude and my wife's wonderful voice filled the car.

"Glad you could join me today, it's the Karen Bishop show. What a day it's been, the senate has adjourned for 5 months but before they did senate democrats sent the Yerk War bill back to committee that means aid to the Andalite forces is delayed even further. Also we just got news that the final vote from the Chanberain war council has been delayed again. We'll talk to our old friend Ithiell about it. Also Carlos Santos the probable Republican nominee for president will join us, has he picked a vice president yet we'll find out soon. I'd be glad to here from you to (800) 555-kbis. Back in a minute." When she came back on she took a call.

"Hello to Steven out of Salt Lake City."

"Hello Mrs. Bishop, I have a question."  
"Fire away."

"I would like to know if the reason you support the Yerk war bill is because your husband does."

"Well that's a fair question but no, I'll always support the Yerk War bill because I fought in the first part of it and I know if you don't keep these slugs on the run…"

"Well I don't think you have a right to talk about this and claim to be objective!"

"Ok I never claimed to be an objective commentator, there's no such thing, and…" I had my fists clenched it always infuriated me to here my wife be bullied by a bunch of morons whose political experience is limited to yelling at the TV. I knew Karen could take care of herself though.

"Senator, we're here." The Hork-Baijar stepped out of the car first blocking any potential sniper's view of me I stepped out and the two secret service agents flanked me while the Hork-Baijar brought up the rear.

My house was two stories it was a fine wood painted green with blue trim. There was a large window on the second story (bullet proof of course) that gave a good view of the Potomac river. Karen's radio station was only a few miles down the road. I went in followed by one secret service agent. (the Hork-Baijar and other agent stood outside the door) the first thing I did was check my messages, the only one on their as still being recorded, it was a familiar voice.

"… call me as soon as…" I picked up.

"Hey Marco how are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm glad you picked up, hey I'm fine but I need to talk to you."

"If it's about Jake then you can forget it."  
"Look Erik, I know you two have your differences."

"That's an understatement."

"But you need to let it go, ok, I heard about your little spat in Jade's office, Erik man, get a grip…"  
"I'm not going to get a grip Marco, do I have to remind you what the bastard _did _to me.

My roll in the Yerk war opened me up to lots of attention, I used that to carve out a niche and help Me politically, most of my policies were popular since the conservative population of my state was still strong. Most of the people liked my war record too. A week before the election a set of political ad's came out. They claimed I was a "Loose cannon, who let a young girl die so he could live." This bit of information was hard to explain away.

Jordan Bernson, Jakes cousin died in the battle, but she died because she set off a set of charges that would not have gone off otherwise. I was going to do it but she wanted to and she made her case pretty forcefully (meaning she knocked me flat on my ass.) I never forgave myself for what happened, but I knew I couldn't change it, Jordan wanted to die, I never said that aloud but she did, her dad had died in a Yerk attack and just couldn't carry on.

I knew that the leak came from Jake, only the Animorphs and my few remaining teammates knew about it. When I confronted Jake on it he did not deny it, in fact he flaunted it. The ad's put me two points behind in the polls, the only reason I won was because I was able to get some support from the NRA and the NRLC. Jake had almost crushed my dream and I would not be able to forgive that.

"Yeah I do remember but, Jade and I don't plan on doing this, we've settled down, we're…"

"Done fighting," I said. "Don't blame you."

"I don't want my buddy to have to go it alone though, I mean we've been friends since…"

"Marco Jake is a general, a pussy general but a general none the less, you're a comedian, you're on Saturday Night Live, this is not your fight, you stick to your own guns, and Karen and I will make sure aid gets to the Yerk fights, you can stop fighting Marco. Let Jake do as he pleases."

"Guess your right, well see you later I've got rehearsal."

"Oh and make sure to do your impersonation of Miller I need to see that asshole be brought down a peg or two." Marco laughed slightly.

"Yeah I will, gotta run."

"Bye." I hung up. At that moment Karen's new car pulled into the driveway. She stepped out and the sun caught her jet black hair making it shine. She was home early, must have gotten Evan to cover her. The door opened and she stepped in taking off her green coat, a sort of trademark that her fans knew her by.

"Well, look who's back early," I said. "what's the occasion." Karen smiled her wonderful smile and her green/blue eyes sparkled.

"I got Evan to cover for me, Jade called me and told me about Jake, do you think he knows about…"

"No, he couldn't I paid top dollar to make sure he was the _last _person who would know anything about the _Anna-James_. He was trying to get Jade to help him out, which shows what an ass he really is, Jade's been through enough in he war, she doesn't need to be dragged back into the…" The phone rang, I picked it up. "Bishop." Carlos Santos a man I had saved in the attack on the Yerk Pool was on the other end of the line.

"Hey there Erik, how goes the good fight?" He said.

"Shitty as usual." I said back.

"Yeah I heard about the bill, that's too bad man."

"Too bad that's all you have to say normally you have a few more adjectives to add to it."  
"Not to bad about the bill, that's a fucking travesty, but it's too bad you're going to be leaving the senate next year." I was confused, and a little worried.

"You OK Carlos, want me to call in NSA."

"No Erik, I'm trying to tell you I want you to be my running mate." I froze.

"You're kidding me!" I said.

"I kid you not, I'm making the announcement next week enjoy your last few weeks in the senate cause you'll be vice president soon. See ya!" I hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Karen asked.

"Oh nothing, I'm running for vice-president but that's all." Karen jumped into my arms (she wasn't much shorter than me so it wasn't easy to catch her.)

"Oh Erik that's great, when do you start campaigning?"

"I don't know." I said. "But I want you to go with me, that is if…"

"Yeah, sure I'll go, I can't miss out on my husbands campaign, I'll have a speech ready for…"

"Hey you're not going to be doing any of that, you're just a trophy wife for now." I said jokingly. Karen smiled a naughty smile.

"I'll show you what a trophy wife can do." She ripped open her shirt and tackled me onto a nearby couch. We made love, as always when we did I felt the world melt away, it was just Karen and me, I didn't think about a distant war, or anything else but her. I knew then that there was nothing that would make me rejoin the war. I was wrong.


	2. HookBlade Sheathed

A note I might have misspelled some of the Muslim names, but I did my best, if anyone knows the right way to spell it I would appreciate it.

Nawa, Syria

6:34 PM

The bar was definitely a seedy one, most of the patrons looked like they had never seen a bar of soap in their lives. The stench would be overpowering to anyone who wasn't used to it. The air was blue with Hashish and cigarette smoke.

Time had proven that the discovery of an alien world wouldn't unite the human race. There were still the age old conflicts, French vs. English Black Vs White, and Muslim Vs Jew. This was the main reason the Middle East was still in conflict, and that being true it was an easy place for the few remaining Yerks on earth to hide.

The turmoil and lack of modern police forces and Kanondra detectors made it a hub for the remaining controllers on earth. While they had non-controller operatives all over the world they were ruled by a group of former high ranking Yerks in the invasion. All of them were voluntary, all of them had lived in the Middle East their entire life and almost all of them were Muslim since before the end of the Yerk war most Islamic terrorist organizations were 65 controllers.

A controller was a person with a Yerk in their head. The Yerk did everything for them the host human was cast aside a rag doll in a corner. Some humans chose this life, most of them were promised something in return, but in a world run by dictators some people felt that it wasn't giving up much.

The only weakness a Yerk has once it's in a host is that it must return to a Yerk Pool, a pool filled with Kanondra radiation. The Kanondra is the Yerks sun and without absorbing some every three days the Yerk dies. Nawa was one of the few places where such an area was located.

Muhammad Al Zed sat at a corner table sipping from a glass of cheap wine. In front of him Ishmael Sutur tapped his fingers on the table impatiently.

"Stop that!" Zed said.

"Sorry Sub-Visser," Sutur said. "My host has a habit of doing this when he is impatient."

"Understandable, where is Ali?"

"I do not know sir, he was supposed to be here ten minutes ago…" The door to the tavern opened and Ali Mutuck walked in. He had a cigarette already out and began to smoke it before he sat down.

"You're late." Zed said giving him a cold stare.

"I am sorry, I ran into traffic." Ali said taking a drag from the cigarette

"I am glad you finally made it maybe we can begin, has our agent confirmed that Bishop is the nominee?" Zed said.

"Yes, we have Santos will ask him to join him on a tour of several swing states soon, Mrs. Bishop will likely be giving speeches separate from their trail."

"I want a schedule of where they will be as soon as possible."

"I already have one, it is tentative and we will have to get more information before we send Mutuck to the states. May I ask something, sub-visser?"

"Go on."

"Why are we taking this much of a risk, this is a big move sir if we are discovered…"  
"Bishop is responsible for our kind becoming what we are fugitives, running from area to area, hiding, I want him to suffer as we suffer."

"But aren't we…"

"Remember my friend these words, 'the cunning warrior strikes not at the body, or at the mind, he strikes at the heart'."

"This may blow our cover."  
"That," Mutuck said. "Will not happen my work will never be discovered, it never has been." Ali smiled an evil smile.

"Very well, we must begin as soon as possible. Now let us enjoy our drinks."

Washington DC

January 20th 2009

3:32 pm

I was sitting in my office picking a few things to carry with me on my capaign trip. (My nomination had been made official last night) When one of the secret service agents opened the door and suck her head in.

"You have a visitor sir." She said.

"Oh," I said. "And who is it?"

"Tobias Fangor."

"Yeah send him in." Tobias walked in he had short dark hair and dreamy eyes. I hadn't seen him since the dedication of the memorial. Tobais had stayed in a red-tailed hawk morph past the two hour time limit, he had become a _Nothlit _he could not change back. Then a multi dimensional being called the Elemist returned his power to morph. I had developed a total cure for his condition which I gave him after the end of the war.

"Tobias," I said smiling. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, Rachel and I couldn't be doing better." Rachel Bernson Fangor, Jakes cousin one of the strongest woman I've ever met. She and Tobias married shortly after the Yerk Pool invasion, after which they opened a gymnastics studio together, it was one of the msot successful in the world owing both to the media attention the two had received and the fact that both's experiences as birds had greatly increased their reflexes. However, they did not only serve as teachers.

"I assume you're here about The Hook-Blades." I said. The Hook Blades were a group of Yerk sympathizers that was responsible for numerous attacks on members of the restiance groups. They were the reason that all members of the groups had secret service members following them (whether they knew it or not).

"What's the bad news?" I asked.

"Well," Tobias said. "there has been a lot of sileence over the normal channels of comunication."

"Shit!" I said.

"Yeah I know." To a normal person this would seem like good news. No information exchange meant either there was no information to exchange or no one to exchange it. That is not so, as Sherlock Holmes put it "Sometimes it's the absence of the barking dog that's significant." A break off in communications meant there was something being planned, something big and no one wanted to risk the information being intercepted.

"Anything I can do, I have some IOU's I can call in at the NSA and the DOD, if you and Rachel need any help they'd give it." Rachel and Tobias were also members of the CIA's Yerk Search and Destroy sector (YSOD). They kept a close eye on Hook-Blade and were tying their best to catch all the members.

"No there's not much we can do, these guys are good at hiding out and even better at covering their tracks. It's like trying to nail Jell-o to the wall. we've got all we need anymore won't help."

"Then what are you here for?"  
"Erik I want you to delay your tour for the time being until we get this under control." I laughed.

"No, Tobias cowering in fear is a Jake thing, I'm not changing my lifestyle because a bunch of sore losers want me dead."

"Erik this isn't like it was back in the war, no one on the other side _knew _you so you were safe to an extent, but now everyone who fought in the war has a big-ass bull's-eye on their backs , I'm going to be telling Carlos the same thing too before you ask…"

"Tobias," I said. "Your concern in touching it really is, but I need to do my job if Carlos isn't elected then the Yerk war bill is doomed and we're in imminent danger of another Yerk invasion." (Among other items the bill put money into making Yerk detecting technology without which the Yerks could invade again.) Tobias sighed.

"I knew you'd say that, and my wife didn't have much luck with your wife either."  
"How do you know that?" I asked knowing Karen would have called me if her idol/best friend had come to visit her, epically if…

"Turn on your radio." Tobais said. I did Karen's show was on and I heard Rachel's voice.

"… admirable that you would continue under this kind of situation and I am flattered you asked me to fill in for you." Karen's voice was the next one I heard.

"Well you were the next logical step since Fred is busy with his learning center." Tobias laughed aloud.

"Man Rachel's tough, she's still working with YSOD and now she's going to be dealing with a bunch of guys calling and yelling at her all day, I don't know how she does it. Particularly in her condition." Rachel was 5 moths pregnant with twins.

"Appreciate the warning man," I gave him a pat on the back. "Now you go home and get some sleep because those two babies are going to take up a lot of your life."

"Speaking of which, are you and Karen still planning on adopting?" Tobias asked.

"Yeah," I said. "After the election, we'll see about that."

"Karen's happy about that isn't she?"

"Oh yes, but until then she'll be spoiling your kids rotten." Tobias smiled.

"Gotta go."

"See ya." He walked out. Our morphing power was given to us by a special cube that we had made from scratch. It gave us the same powers as the Animorphs but unlike the Animorphs our morphs were painful, and the morphs also drained the sperm and eggs of DNA, making us sterile. It was one of the sacrifices we made to win the war.

Karen was a strong woman and didn't want for much, but children were one of her utmost wishes the fact that she couldn't have them broke her heart, she hid it well, but I could see through her disguise. Lately we had been looking into adopting but I could tell that Karen had a hole in her heart that no matter what I tried I couldn't fix. I walked outside and got in my car, my secret service agents drove me t my house where I finished packing.

I looked at the plans for the trip: I would be touring Ohio, New Mexico, and Florida. Karen would be touring Pennsylvania, Texas and Tennessee. Carlos would be touring the same states as me. Tomorrow I would set off, I wouldn't see Karen again for a few months. We hadn't been apart that long since we started dating. I planned a double date with Jade and Marco, we were going to have dinner and see a production of _Julius Caesar _at Ford's Theater.

I turned on TV, Jake's wife Cassie was on denouncing my bill as too risky. I chuckled.

"Et Tu Cassie." I sat down and turned the channel to a football game.

JFK Int. Airport

New York, New York

Mutuck stepped out of the plane. He had gotten a final list of Bishop's itinerary the other day. He had caught the next plane into America. _The Land of Opportunity _he thought. _I will take this opportunity._ He chuckled to himself as he waved down a cab, and rode to a bus station. He would need to get to his target city a few days early, he needed time to find the best sniper post…

Well that's it for my two chapters the ball's in the very capable hands of my partner Lil-Manaic now. (Take your time by the way LM no hurries here.)


	3. Haunted Memories

Chapter by LilManiac

Jade

Phoebe. My little sister. There were times when she could almost scare me. Almost. She would say things that wouldn't mean anything at the time, yet when they happened I would turn to look at her.

But. when I looked into those big green eyes of hers. I just didn't know. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe not. Maybe she knew what was happening to her, maybe not. All I know is, she condemned me to the worst fate possible when said the one thing that changed my life forever. "You will loose something, but you will gain something else" She'd said to me. Boy, was she right.

---------------------------------------x-------------------------------

"Ahhh!" Someone screamed from within the madness.

"Help me!!" Another cry. God, where was it coming from?! I turned left and right, but all I saw was people slicing each other up. Someone fired a gun, and then the Chanaiben to the right of me sizzled into nothingness. I was suddenly shoved into the dirt. I hit hard, feeling like my arm was broken.

Then a scream, and when I looked up, I saw the blade coming to slice me in two. And then of course,

Trenton, N J

2:11 am.

January 19th

I woke up screaming. I couldn't help it. When I remembered where I was I clamped a hand over my mouth, trying not to shake. But it was too late. Beside me, Marco stirred.

"Jade? What is it?" He asked in a sleep clogged voice. I couldn't answer. Instead, I up and ran to the bathroom. I threw up in the sink, and wiped my hand over my mouth. Sweat spilled down my forehead as I tried not to throw up again. When I was sure I wasn't going to, I splashed my face with water. Then I looked up at my reflection in the mirror.

My face was white as a ghost, and my eyes were haunted. My hair seemed to go in every which direction, and even hung over the bridge of my nose, partly in my left eye. I was a mess. My name, if you don't know by now, is Jade Harper. Well, that used to be my last name. I know, weird, huh? Well, now my last name is Rodriguez. Yep, that's right; I married Marco Rodriguez.

I think Jade Rodriguez has a much better ring to it though. The past months of the war had been trying. Very trying. I'd had to drug my family and take them out of the area, then the four of us (the Black Angels I mean) had to wait until the town blew up. Until then, we didn't know if they were still alive or not. The Animorphs, Glass Dagger. Half of Glass Dagger had been killed, I'd learnt.

Even though I'd only met the other four members for a short time (about a day) the reality had hit hard. They were gone forever. Well, most of the Black Angels had moved on. I was now an Ambassador for the American government. I was to help trade agreements between the Chanaiben and human races to go over more 'smoothly'. I did what I could to make it all peaceful (with Ithiell's help, of course) but there were still times when they would erupt at nothing.

But with Ithiell now on his home world, smoothing over some kind of 'business' I was left to deal with the brunt of things. Without Ithiell, the Chanaibens seemed less willing to trade things, and the Americans had a go at them for not being 'cooperative'. The whole thing made my head spin. Almost literally sometimes. As for Amanda and Ithiell, they were still all good. Their love had outlasted years of war, and was still going strong. Ithiell, like me, was an Ambassador that sometimes took trips to the Chanaiben home world to help out there.

Amanda was a famous singer. It might seem a small thing to become after the war, but Amanda had already become a diva. Her songs (mostly original) about war, peace and sometimes love became hits all over the world. She now lived back in Australia, with Ithiell by her side. He had his own fighter, so that made trips back and forth much easier.

Robert had thrown himself straight into the military. Straight into the anti-terrorism forces. He taught others strategy, and the importance of having a backup plan. It was his specialty, and most of the time it worked for the teams that took his 'advice'. The rest of Glass Dagger team were going ok, last I heard.

So were the other Animorphs. It was rare that I saw them though, and when I did see Erik again, it felt good to know he and Karen were going ok. He was a Senator, she was a talk show host. But, of course, the next time I saw Jake, he had bad news. He wanted to drag me and Marco back into war. I almost agreed, since I'd once told myself that if I could fight, I would. But Marco wouldn't let me, and basically told Jake no.

I was shocked, since I thought Marco would be the first to leap to Jake's defense, and join him. But he didn't, and ever since then I'd been having nightmares. This night, was the first time in years that I'd woken up screaming my head off. After a few minutes, I'd calmed myself down by just breathing slowly and counting backwards from thirty. Counting back from ten never worked for me.

"Another bad dream?" Marco asked as he came and stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I nodded.

"Yeah. Back to the Terinan war. Wonderful" I muttered, relaxing a little. Having Marco there usually calmed me down. To me, his touch was soothing.

"You know, we did the right thing. I know it might not seem that way now. but we did" he said softly, kissing my cheek. I smiled sadly.

"How can we be sure? After all, maybe my dreams are telling me."

"That you're worried? That your dreams mean you're terrified of."

"Okay, we've had this discussion already. I'm afraid of going back into war, that it'll all happen over again. Yeah, ok. I get it. Can we skip the psych exam?" I looked at him in the mirror. He stared right back.

"Jade, I'm just worried about you, all right?" I sighed "Yeah, I know" I leaned back into him, turning my head and kissing his cheek. "Now, let's go get some sleep. You need to be able to negotiate tomorrow" he said smiling.

He let go of me, and led me back to bed. The rest of the night, he never let go of me. And the bad dreams melted away, and instead I dreamed of a child that never was in my arms.


	4. The spoils of war

Hollywood CA

January 25th

9:22 pm

Amanda was back sooner than any of us thought. A week later, she announced she was going to perform at the Mon Beau. It was a fancy restaurant that had a little stage for performances and that. It was reserved for the best and highest ranking people in Hollywood.

And, for a matter of fact, the whole of America. And, since Amanda rarely ever performed live, it was a real treat to have her here, performing. It was also another key to her success. Just like Elvis, she was one person so high up she could barely be touched by those that didn't know her.

Some of the people were ambassadors, a few were senators, but many were actors and actresses. So, of course, I had to make sure looked as good as I possibly could. A manicure, a new hairdo, and of course, one of the most amazing dresses ever made. Gouchi, I think it was. Pale purple-blue color, off the shoulder, and had a slit up the right side, to the knee. Any higher, and the scar on my leg could be seen.

I'd had my hair curled and highlighted. The entire outfit made me look like a whole new person. Marco, of course, had to wear a tux. I must admit, he looked stunning in it. The restaurant itself had state-of-the-art security, provided partly by the Chanaiben government. At the entrance it had a machine that could tell if someone was carrying a gun, a knife, or anything dangerous that could harm anyone. Even poisons and stuff like that. Pretty cool, huh?

"Ambassador, Mr. Rodriguez" the guards greeted us at the door, bowing respectfully. I got a lot of that, and even after all this time I was still a little uneasy about the attention I got. Marco and I headed in, being seated by the waiters at one of the beautiful tables. Inside, the lights were dim, and the atmosphere was made calm and romantic by the small candles in the middle of the tables, as well as the deep blues and purples throughout the rooms.

"Look, there's Nicole Kidman! Oh I love her!" I whispered in Marco's ear. He smiled and shrugged a little.

"Yeah, so? I met her on Conan O'Brian" "Oh you!" I slapped his arm playfully, "You just love doing that, don't you?"

"Uh-huh" his grin widened. I saw Ian a few tables across from us, on a two-seater table. I excused myself for a minute, and went to talked to him for a little while. When I came back, there were two more people there that I didn't expect.

"Oh hi!" I said excitedly as Karen and Erik got up to greet me. I gave them both a quick kiss on the cheek before I sat down again. They were both absolutely stunning. Karen was wearing an amazing strapless blue silk dress, and Erik's hair actually looked tame for once.

"I didn't know you had time to come. You know, with the new campaign and all"

"Why Jade, you insult us. We wouldn't miss Amanda's performances for the world!" Karen said as the final few people were ushered inside and the doors were shut.

"Maybe the country, but not the world" Marco muttered, and I shushed him. He pulled his chair closer to me, putting a hand on my back. Finally, as the lights on the stage lit up, my best friend stepped on stage. Her curly hair had been straightened and layered, and the white sparkling dress made her look like an angel.

She took the microphone from its stand and began to speak the way she always did when she was happy. "Hey everyone, thanks for coming! I am soo glad you all made it!" There were a few soft chuckles, including one from Marco, before she continued "All right, I have a few new songs for you all, and a few surprises, so sit there and. well, I hope you all enjoy!" There was a loud cheering from the audience, and the Marco made a point of whistling and trying to clap the loudest. Then, put the mike back, and the band started up. Soon, her beautiful voice rang through the entire restaurant. An angels voice. One of the songs was about her mother, thanking her.

I fought back the tears when I heard that song. Her mother's cancer had hit her hard when we were little. And for her to be singing about that made me realize she'd moved on from that. Marco scooted his chair right next to mine, putting an arm around me. Erik and Karen seemed to like it too.

They were holding hands on the table, both smiling up at Amanda as she sang her heart and soul out. Two hours later, with a half hour of some 'new' singers she'd brought under her wing (who were absolutely stunning as well) Amanda finally took time to talk to the audience again.

"Okay, well, I hope you all had a fun time, and I hope I didn't bore you too much, I'm sad to say that this night is going to end soon. I'm sorry to say I can't keep singing forever" She feigned a little cough and a wave of the hand "The last two songs I'm going to sing are. well, they're not mine, really. But I just want to dedicate them to my fiancé Ithiell. He proposed last night!"

"Oh my god! Go Mandy!" I yelled out over the cheers. This just seemed to excite her more. She blushed, holding the microphone, before everyone calmed down and she continued.

"Well, that's my good news. And here are my songs. My baby, I love you so much." She then sang two love songs from a long time ago. Trisha Yearwood's, 'How do I live' and Brian Adams 'Everything I do'. And she was perfect. She got every high note, and hit every low note like a pro. And the whole while she maintained that angels voice. When it was over, the room seemed to explode into applause and cheers. Everyone loved her! Soon, the room filed out, and it was just the six of us.

"You serious?" I asked Amanda when I'd grabbed her hands to get her attention. She nodded excitedly and we started to jump around like little girls who got to go to camp. That was what I loved about Mandy; she always seemed to make me forget the fact that I was grown up.

"You are gonna have sooo much fun!" I squealed.

"Oh god. Ithiell? A little advice? Run" Marco said, shaking his head. I ignored him, happy for my best friend. Karen joined in a little on the fun, talking about her marriage to Erik and the Hork-Bajir customs (and whatever the bride had to go through, so did the bridesmaid. Terrifying stuff) and the bed they were given and still had. Soon, Karen and Amanda were really chatting it up, and so were the boys (with Marco suggesting to Ithiell that he leave right now, and Erik laughing and saying otherwise).

I fell silent, knowing Jake had gone to Ithiell as well, and finding it amazing still that Ithiell had flat-out refused him. He'd asked Robert as well, and I don't want to tell you what string of curse words he used. The last I heard though, he was going to make his own way there somehow.

War had stuffed us all up, and. well, I guess Robert had his own agenda sometimes. He needed the fight, a lot like Rachel did. I looked around at the empty seats, the wine bottles scattered here and there, and the glasses on each and every table. I saw a few waiters starting to clean the tables as well, all looking a little gloomy.

Then I spotted a man who hadn't left yet. I hadn't seen him before, so it worried me. A senator? Some other high ranking guy? Karen or Erik's guard? He was staring straight at us. Then, like he suddenly remembered he needed to be somewhere, got up hastily, grabbing his jacket, and bolted out the door. My gut was telling me something was wrong with the guy. Too bad my gut was almost always right.


	5. Troubled Waters

Gpshaw

I don't own the Animorphs I do not own anything associated with the Animorphs I only own the team members of Glass Dagger as well as the Gurwon race, there now that I've scarred off the rabid lawyers (maybe I should stop saying that I'm going to be a lawyer…) back to the story.

Erik

Due to mature adult content Reader Discretion is advised.

11:45 pm

The party was over, and I had to get back to the hotel. Karen and I were taking a week break from campaigning (Carlos more or less demanded we do). I had to admit I was enjoying it. Even though I was in California (a Republican in California was either crazy or a movie star) I managed to make it to the club and back without being called a Nazi or having someone call Karen one.

Hearing Amanda sing was good therapy for me. The trail I was on was stressful I had to deal with hecklers and protestors. The combination of her voice and Karen's soft hands was overloading to my senses.

After the concert Karen and I talked with Jade, Marco, Ian and, Amanda. After we talked awhile Ian pulled me aside and talked in a hushed tone, I knew this couldn't be good news.

"Erik, I need your help." He said.

"I'm not going to war, I thought I made that clear to Jake." Ian laughed out loud in a tone that was likely heard by the crew of the space shuttle. Then he began to whisper again.

"Um, no this more… personal, it's about Amanda and me, and the wedding…"

"Just let her plan it she's been planning it since she was 4."

"No, not that part, the um," He turned red. "wedding, n… night." Realization hit me.

"Ohhh," I said. "You might want to talk to Marco on that, I don't know if you follow American politics but I'm the third most conservative senator on the floor right now, so…"

"Now you know I can't ask Marco, he's not mature enough." I chuckled.

"Yeah, between carrying her over the threshold and kissing her on the neck he'll have made at least 6 jokes. What makes you think I'm a good source exactly?"

"Well you humans have an interesting way reproducing, my species' doesn't have the same, um, difficulties in having a… mutually beneficial treaty…"

"Again why am I a good source?"

"Well after you're wedding night Karen talked to Jade, Jade talked to Amanda and Amanda talked…"

"I get the idea," I said glad that Karen hadn't been going for an Oscar that night. "I can't give you much advice but I'll try." I talked with him quickly and he thanked me.

"Oh and if anyone asks I was discussing my campaign for the War Council with you."

"No problem," I said. "I'd just as soon forget this anyway." Karen and I had to leave, we had to catch an early flight out of town to get back on the trail. As I was on my way out Jade stopped us.

"Hey, wait a minute," She said. "how's the trip going?"

"Oh," Karen said. "Nothing much, rabid liberals, hecklers throwing stuff, picket signs putting Erik's head on Hitler's body. The usual."

"Which is why I don't want to be in the public eye," Jade said. "That media coverage after war almost killed me, but I'm asking because Tobias talked to me too, he tried to get me to talk you into not doing this, but knowing you like I do I'm just wasting my breath aren't I?"

"Yep," I said. "Our will is set, we're not going to bow down to a bunch of slugs, didn't do it two years ago won't do it now."

"Well it was worth a try," Jade sighed. "You two be careful then don't do anything stupid." Karen laughed.

"You forget we're the bride and groom of doom, stupid is our _job_." Jade didn't smile.

"Look I'm serious, I think you're being followed…"

"Probably the secret service," I said. "If anyone else were following us the secret service would shoot them…"

"Erik don't forget," Jade said somberly. "Your veterans of a war where the enemy could be anyone, nothing is safe, it takes only one misstep, one overlooking of a simple move to…"

"Could you please stop with the B horror movie tone of voice your creeping me out!" I said, stilltrying to make light of the situation. Jade groaned.

"You've been watching my husband on TV too much, just keep your eyes open something is very, very wrong."

"Thanks for the heads up, you be careful too, might want to ask Marco to security upped at the studio." Karen said, we left. We walked out to the car escorted by the secret service members that had been stopped at the door. We both sat in the backseat of the limo (one of the many perks of my job was that the limo was also bullet proof.). Karen turned to me.

"Do you think Jade is right?" She asked. I did but I didn't want to worry Karen.

"No, I doubt it," I said. "Just don't think about it let Janet and Steven up there do their jobs, the secret service will handle it." The words brought little comfort; Karen still seemed nervous. I was too I felt the same thing Jade did, something was wrong something bad was going to happen and soon.

---------

When we got to the hotel we both were tired. Having to stand outside while the secret service cleared the room didn't give us anymore energy. After our guards had finished the search we were allowed into the presidential suite. Two of the guards stood outside the door and another stood on the balcony.

"So how did you like the concert?" I asked. Karen smiled.

"I enjoyed it, her music isn't much my style," (Karen was a heavy metal girl). "But she does the genre good." She slipped out of her dress. It's funny even after being married for more than two years, and making love with her more times than I could count, every time I saw her body I felt like I was looking at it for the first time. Karen smiled again.

"Pervert!" She slipped on a nightgown that had been given to her as a wedding present from Rachel. I slipped mine on as well. I never keep secrets from Karen so I told her about how Ian had come to me on advice that led back to her.

"I didn't know I had, um…"  
"Satisfied me?" Karen said laughing a little. "I didn't expect it…"

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh not like that, it's just that everyone who ever tells you anything about the first time says nothing but bad things. I guess we got lucky." She said.

"Yeah, we've been lucky a lot lately…" I said, adding silently _when's it going to run out. _Karen looked at me again.

"Do you not remember much about that night, guess I'll have to refresh your memory." She took her finger and traced my scar. I never really figured out why I hadn't paid to have my 10 inch plus scar on the side of my face removed. I thought it was either because I wanted a reminder of the war, or that when Karen touched it it sent shivers down my spine, good shivers, very good shivers…

"Honey," I said through the kiss she had enveloped me in. "There's two guys in sunglasses with guns out on the balcony don't forget." Karen pushed my on the bed (the bed was soft be normal standards but compared to the bed that the Hork-Baijar had made for us it was solid concrete and I'm _not _exaggerating) and took off her robe.

"Who cares?" I smiled and kissed her.

"You're right." I was in heaven for the next twenty minutes.

--------------

In the parking lot Mike Stevens and his partner Larry Goodman were watching closely. Mike was a tall man he had dark green eyes and a stubble beard his hair was thinning and his ears were flat on his head. Mike had a "ghetto" accent that came from growing up in a white boy Harlem.

"Ah, holly shit that's not right…" Larry said. Larry was a shorter man who was slightly overweight Larry had a voice like the short guy on _Gone Fishin' _it sounded like he had his tongue over his teeth when he talked. He was totally bald and wore thin glasses, he was the last person you would expect to work with a hit man. It was one of Larry's many uses.

" If you don't like it. Then don't look." Mike said, glad for once that he wasn't able to bug the room he was watching.

"Hey the guy is ugly as hell but I want to keep my eye on the girl…" Mike yanked the binoculars down.

"The fuck's wrong with you? First you follow the target into a fucking invitational concert, and now you're playing voyeur,"

"Hey I got out as soon as I could."

"Oh and that reminds me did anyone see you?"

"No, accept." Mike swore

"Who?!"

"That, that, that girl, the one who's married to the SNL guy, what's her name, Jade."

"You know what you have to do then right?"

"No I don't."

"Ok tomorrow you find out where she's staying and if she starts digging kill her!"

"What about you?"

"I'm going to continue the original mission our employer told us that we could kill anyone who threatened the mission, I'll still give you your share of the money."

"Hey why can't we just blow the fuckers brains out when they walk out the hotel?"

"Because if we do then we don't get paid the hit is on one of them not both, if they both die we get nothing. I don't know why but that's the order." Some people would threaten the employer if he didn't change the rules but Mike wasn't like that he did his job and didn't complain as long as he was paid. Plus the employer was a big guy and if Mike did threaten him he knew he'd regret it.

His partner was silent after that. Mike was glad, Larry had worked with him for two years, while he wasn't too bright he was a good ally. This job was an odd one. He had never met the man who hired him face to face, it was almost always through a telephone conversation or meeting a contact.

If the money weren't so good the man wouldn't have taken the job. It would not be easy, the target was well guarded for their position but the man would kill them after all no one was bullet proof. It was just a matter of finding the right time.

--------

Somewhere in Pennsylvania

January 26th

2:21 am

Mutuk drove carefully, it was getting closer to zero hour and there was no room for error. His ethnicity had saved him from being checked at the airport (the politics of this country made it easy for him, if anyone stopped him because he was Islamic they'd get in more trouble than him.) After he left the airport though he was fair game, he was already suspicious as a Middle Eastern man ( although he didn't believe that racism or profiling or whatever these stupid humans called it was the problem, he thought the fact that a lot of these guy still remembered 9-11 was the problem) , and the high powered sniper gun, the folder full of information on Erik Bishop and $50,000 in cash would not help his case. As such he had gone over his car with a fine tooth comb.

There were no taillights out, no dark windows. The car was normal. Mutuck was near the site of his attack. Suddenly he saw a blue light. He was shocked, how could anyone have… then he saw it he had left his gun in plain view of a bystander.

Mutuk pulled over. The officer waked over.

"Good evening sir, how are you doing." The cop said.

"I am fine." Mutck said.

"Look I pulled you over because I can see a gun in your window, now this state doesn't allow the possession of that powerful a gun. I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car, is it OK if I look around?"  
"No!"

"Sir I was asking to be polite I have probable cause step out of the car."

"Look officer I have 50 grand in my pocket if you let me go I'll give half of it to you." The officer became angry.

"Sir, you're under arrest, step out of the car _now_!" Mutuk sighed, and reluctantly complied.


	6. Darkning Clouds

California

10:22 am

Erik

Karen and I showered together when we woke up. Afterwards we got dressed and headed downstairs. Sitting in the lobby were Rachel and Tobias. Rachel was one of the most beautiful girls in the world. She had long blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

She stood up to her height of 5'4 and bent over a little from the roundness of her belly. Tobias helped her up.

"To what do we owe the honor?" I asked. Rachel smiled.

"We have good news, early this morning a police officer pulled a car over because he saw a weapon in it. Long story short he arrested the guy and searched the car. In it they found a folder and inch thick on you, Erik."

"We think he was the guy the Hook-Blades sent after you." Tobias said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well he has connections to the main base of the group in Syria." Tobias said.

"So the threat is over."

"Yeah, all transmissions we monitor are using four-letter words because the plan is ruined, we just wanted to tell you in person." I stared at him.

"And?" I said. I knew he wouldn't drag his pregnant wife across the country for no reason.

"Look Erik, I just got word from the Andilate dome ship _Baywatch, _don't ask, that's the one Becky is serving on ,and the ship is going into the Gurwon planet, it's making a stop off here to get more supplies. We are going to be joining them."

"What!?" Karen yelped, she looked at Rachel's belly. "What about?"

"Rachel is going to raise them on the ship, we want them to be raised with my fathers family."

"But what if you have to fight?"

"We won't until after the birth, but after that we'll leave the kids in a daycare center run by Alloran" (Alloran was formally Visser 3 or 1 and had found out that he loved human kids, who'd have thought that the same guy who released a quantum virus on an entire race would love kids, ah the worlds full of mysteries). Rachel spoke.

"I got Terry to cover for you Karen oh…"

"You OK?" I asked.

"Yeah, just one of the little ones kicked my liver…"

"Oh poor babies their first phrase is going to be 'lets do it!'" Karen siad. Tobias (who as a side effect of my treatment had retained his thought-speak powers) said to me.

(Yeah because I think they might grow up without a father, have you seen Rachel with pregnancy hormones, scary shit!) I tried not to laugh because then Rachel would know Tobias was talking (thinking?) about her. I looked at my watch.

"We need to go," I said. "I have to be in New Mexico by Friday, bye." Rachel kissed me on the cheek.

"Bye." She said, Karen kissed her on the cheek the kissed her stomach twice.

"Bye Rach, bye, bye little guys!" She said in her perfect baby-talk voice, a felt a slight stab of pain. Karen and I walked out together. Another limo had been brought in. There was a new band of secret service agents as well as a Hork-Baijar honor guard they would be escorting me. The old band would be escorting Karen. I looked into Karen's eyes, they were so deep so… wonderful.

"See you in a few months." I said. She had a tear in her eye I wiped it away then wrapped my arms around her and kissed her deeply. We stayed like that for at least two minutes then broke apart with some difficulty. I got in my limo and introduced myself to the agents. They in turn introduced themselves.

The Hork-Biajar was Bordaulf. One of the agents was a short haired blonde woman named Christi. The other agent (that was visable to me) was a built man name Evan. These guys would be my responsible for my life and I wanted to be friendly with them.

As we pulled out of the driveway of the hotel I saw Karen waving at me through the open window of her limo, I looked at her again and blew her a kiss. I don't know, maybe I knew what was going to happen but I told the driver to stop and I got out of the car I walked over to her and kissed her again.

"I love you." I said. She smiled.

"I love you too." Her limo drove on and went left I got back in mine, my limo turned right. I turned on the heat, it was cold that morning, as cold as death…

----------------------------

Larry had left early in the morning, now Mike was following the target alone. He had to drive carefully if he go too close the secret service would stop him too far and he would loose the target. He had changed cars before resuming his mission, his boss had deep pockets and he would have a new car for every leg of the mission.

He was following on the freeway it made the job hard, even though he had placed a tracking bug on the car he didn't want to activate it lest it be discovered. He had to stay at least one car behind the target and still keep it in view.

His cell phone went off, it was the secure one, the one his boss' men used to contact him.

"Hello Ethell's Traveling Dry Cleaners how may I help you?" Mike said into it. The voice was a crisp military voice.

"Sir, the general wants to know what your progress is sir."

"I am looking for the general's shirt but I have not found the right store yet."

"Thank you sir." Mike hung up and tossed the phone out the window. The basic translation of what he said was that he hadn't had his chance at the target yet, but Mike knew he'd have it soon. Unless that girl fucked things up…

--------------------------------

LAX

11:22 am

Larry watched Jade as she sat down next to her husband Marco as of yet she hadn't said anything about seeing him the other night. She had given no sign that she was curious about it, nevertheless his orders were clear: follow her until the other mission was complete.

Larry had placed a bug on her luggage when he pretended to pick it up by mistake. He turned it on and listened through a small speaker in his ear.

"… enjoyed the show last night." Jade was saying.

"Which one?" Marco said.

"The first one, the one you have a better chance of seeing again if you keep making bad jokes."

"Jade, why can't we fly my jet, I mean I could have Niles bring it over in a heartbeat."

"His name is Raymond," Jade said. "at least I think, but the point is I don't want to forget what it's like to be normal…" Larry listened on with half an ear, he checked his ticket to make sure he'd be directly behind the two on the plane ride. This was going to be a mind numbing mission, and chances were the girl didn't even remember him, but if she did, then he would get to have fun.

---------------------------------

Washington DC

2:00 pm

Lt. Jerry Hightower entered the general's office. The general was blunt.

"What has he done?"

" Sir He is nearing a shot at completing the mission Sir!"

"Very good, now has our other prject been completed yet?"

"Sir Yes, an emergency session of congress sans Mr. Bishop approved our bill to allow the hiring of independent mercenaries to battle in the Gurwon war, it wasn't an easy pill to swallow but we called in some favors Sir!" The general smiled, it was a smile that may have once been warm, but now it was cold and inspired nothing but fear. Hightower was uncomfortable.

"Then I assume you have already done the paperwork to have me and my platoon brought to the war including yourself."

"Sir, yes, Sir!"

"And the ship?"

"Sir the _Golden Eagle _is ready and space worthy for the transport of soldeirs sir." The general chuckled.

"Good, prepare the men, you are dimissed." Hightower left quickly. The general looked out a nearby window. The plan was falling into place. The general did not like this plan but it was a nesscary step. He needed help and his back was against the wall, besides, the Bishops were both aware of the realites of war, now they would see the pain when the "all is fair…" excuse was used on them. It was a pity, the general knew he was going to be killing a great warrior, but he was willing to sacrifice that, in war you did whatever you could to win…


	7. Going with your gut

****

A note from gpshaw for a little while this book will not be in direct chronological order, leave a review if your confused and we'll try to straighten it out.

Chapter by lil maniac

****

Jade

__

January 25th 2009

11:23 pm

"Stupid friggen-hick! Erik, he doesn't-hick! take my worrying seriously, and-hick! now if my gut is-hick! right, it means-hick! the damn terrorists are finding a-hick! Way around the friggen." Man, trying to be angry and serious while you're hiccupping doesn't really work. Especially when Marco was sprawled on the bed, laughing his ass off. "Shut-hick! the-hick! fuck up!" I yelled, and this just made him laugh harder.

It didn't help my mood any. I growled at him, knowing that Erik and Karen could take care of themselves, I still didn't like to stand around and wait for someone to die. Especially if that someone was close to me.

Terrorism seemed to be on the rise, and that stupid Hook-Blade fraction was in a large part to blame for it all. How can you sympathize with the very things that take away your very freedom, the only thing that you do have that can make a difference. I guess in the end, it all relied on choice.

Choose to be good, and make the world better by working for it, or choose to surrender your very soul to all things evil. I sat down on the bed, thinking hard. Damn hiccups come at all the wrong times. Marco fell off the side seconds later, laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard or seen in his whole life.

I rolled my eyes, but unable to stop a small smile from my lips as I looked down to see him wiping tears from his eyes.

"Really Jade, you're too wound up about the smallest things. They can _handle_ it, ok?" I frowned at him as he keeled beside the bed, resting his elbows on my knees and looking up at me, a picture of innocence.

"Look, I know you might not-hick! god damn it... see it like I do, but if-hick! someone is following them, or better yet another one of-hick! us, that means that."

"I know what that means, ok?" Again, that knowing serious stare "But if you're really worried about it-" I snapped my fingers then, realizing what I could do and stopping Marco in mid-sentence

"I know! I've got it! hick! Damn that... I have a conference in the city near where the Hook-Blades are thought to have a base of operations. The conference-hick! is about the state of the war in Gurwon, and the leader of that country is."

"Jade, woah, woah! You're going a mile a minute girl! I hear you, and I think I sort of understand you, but what good will it be?" I'm sure my eyes were glittering with ferocity as I spoke, but I didn't care.

"Marco, it means I can. discreetly. find out if anyone has been hired to follow us-"

"Or worse"

"Exactly. I won't do anything suspicious, and after this I don't want to talk about it outside the room, ok?"

"Not a problem here. But, I want you to be careful, ok?" I smiled at him.

"I will" I'd noticed then that my hiccups had subsided, and now Marco was looking quite good to me from that angle. I bent over, cupped his head in my hands, kissing him passionately.

After that we lay on the bed, entwining our bodies in such ecstasy it felt like the first time all over again.

----------------------------------------------x----------------------------

__

Nawa, Syria

January 26th 2009

8:43 am

I got out of the airport, and into the early morning sun, dragging my bags along with me. I wiped off the sweat from the heat that seemingly came from no-where, looking up into the sky and wishing I was somewhere else. A Hork-Bajir guard greeted me outside, informing me that he was going to be my bodyguard from that point on. I accepted, and he threw my bags into the back of a black land cruiser, helping me in then getting in himself.

There was a man in the drivers seat, who gave me a salute and smiled at me. But I wasn't a complete fool; I kept my guard up until I knew for sure they weren't terrorists (which actually meant discreetly scanning them with a handy device Ithiell had made for me in my pocket). They took me to the hotel, where I was carefully inspected to make sure I was who I said I was, before I took to my room, falling facedown on the bed and not moving until nightfall.

Mikpatt, my Hork-Bajir guard, was outside my door the entire time. He'd actually checked my room before I went in, thoroughly and with about three other guards that popped up from no-where, before he let me even consider moving inside the room.

The next day I met Ithiell at the conference, and we tried to reason again with the leaders of each nation, as well as a few creatures from a few other planets. But for some reason they seemed to disregard our proposition faster than they did the last times, and we left defeated and stony-faced.

"Is it just me, or are these humans tone deaf to the cry of war, except in their own interests?" Ithiell asked me as we strode angrily away from the conference room, guards following and keeping in front of us. I nodded dully.

"Yeah. And is it just me, or are they all complete jackasses?" I said with more than a little distaste in my voice. Ithiell agreed with me, although he seemed surprised that I'd put it so bluntly. "Well, it's true. I never thought I'd say it, but I really hate the human race right about now"

"Even though you're a part of it?"

"Even though I'm a part of it. Here's an idea, why don't we just-" "No"

"Right, right. I know. Big ole Jakey boy wants us in, and if we do that he'll have us roped in for good. I know" I rolled my eyes at him, itching to get out of the business suit I always seemed to be in. The fabric was scratchy, and the heels just screwed up my back posture. Ithiell went back to his ship, telling me he was going to prepare for his wedding and forget about damn war for once in his life.

I decided to stay a bit longer, not exactly willing to go on another damn flight just yet. I had to remind myself it was normal before I ripped my hair out. Damn being an ambassador sucked big time. It was some time later, when I was in a small coffee shop with Mikpatt and another plain clothed guard hovering near the door, doing all they could not to look conspicuous, that I got a break.

"...apparently they say she'll have to be killed" I instantly tuned in to the barely heard voices, barely flinching or showing any sign that I heard. I sipped the tea in my cup, pretending to read the book I'd brought along.

"Why?"

"I don't know! But the General is payin him lot of money for this hit."

"Shh! Not so loud, wait a minute who's the General"

"I'm not sure. Some new guy on the block, deep pockets and friends in high places, not to mention the rumors that he has a whole platoon at his command and rumors say he's after the same guy as that Hawk-Blade"

"It's Hook-Blade! And where'd you hear that? Don't you pick up a fuckin' news paper the assassin from Hook-Blade got his ass arrested, this morning and he spilt his guts all over the floor, Hook-Blade is on the run, the General is obviously something else. Where did you hear about The General"

"Overheard the guys talkin about him"

"What? You wanna find this guy and do a job for him?"

"If he's willin to pay bucket loads of money for it"

"You forget Michael 'Big Nuts' has already taken this contract, you know him, he'll have the hit's head on his wall within the week! Our only shot is to hope he needs another hit done."

I heard the two men chuckle to each other, then seeming to remember they weren't alone and hushing each other again. But I'd heard enough. I finished my tea in no hurry, then got up and left with my two body guards not far behind me.

Oh yes, this needed further investigation all right. I was going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what it took.


	8. The Gut's always right

__

Seattle, Washington

January 27th 2009

The tapping of the keys was all I heard in the early morning. Everything in my hotel room, even the guards outside, were eerily silent. By blurry eyes focused on the laptop screen in front of me, typing in what I hoped was the right password. "Access denied" it said in big red letters and I slammed my hands down on in, surprised I didn't break it.

"Dammit!" I said in the loudest voice I dared to use. I tossed the laptop aside, sprawling across the bed. I was exhausted. I'd been searching the net for anything about anyone named the General as well as following potential leads, but I'd come up almost entirely blank whoever this guy was he was good at hiding.

So, it was up to me to get in touch with my contact, who I'd only known as Chip. I'd met him a few of months before, when things with terrorism had become extremely bad. He'd stopped me from going to my car one evening, and just when I thought of strangling the stranger, the car had exploded.

He'd saved my life, and since then I'd been going to him for information in the underground. It wasn't often, but when I did he'd proved himself time and time again. I grabbed my laptop, checked I hadn't damaged it beyond repair, and sent a 'joke' email to a certain address. Lame, but it was the code I needed to talk to him.

He usually did the rest. On the third evening I shrugged off my guards, telling them I'd be fine for a night. I dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and an oversized top. I stuck my hair up in a cap, wearing old sneakers and leaving the hotel.

When I was away from the building I shifted my appearance ever so slightly, walking down the first street I came across. There were murmurs and a few stares, so I pulled my cap further down to shield my eyes from anyone suspicious.

I turned a corner into an abandoned alley, then out the other side. I heard someone clearing their throat, and I leaned against the wall where I'd come out from, right near the corner.

"It's not safe out here" Came the voice from behind me.

"It's not safe anywhere" I replied. It was the code we used to identify each other. He chuckled

"I thought you'd forgotten about me"

"Now why would I do that?"

"You're rich and famous"

"Fame isn't as great as it seems to be" I muttered.

"Don't you know it. What'd you need?"

"Information" Again, another soft laugh

"Well, isn't that always the way"

"Do you know anything about a bounty out by some guy named 'The General'?"

"A little. He's new to the streets Why?"

"Because I... well, let's just say I have a 'gut feeling' something bad is going to happen soon, and that he's involved"

"Perhaps"

"Perhaps?"

"Yeah. I've been hearing some strange things the past few weeks. Someone was under the eye of a faction that could be hook-blade, and was targeted, but the tail got caught, then I started hearing about a Death Bounty "

"What? You mean like... an assassination?"

"Exactly right"

"Do you know who?"

"No. Only that it's one from the teams who fought against the Yeerks. Black Angels, Glass Dagger, or the Animorphs. That's as much as I know for now"

"Motive?"

"No clue, this guy is a big mystery very hard to nail down, even for someone like me, for all I know this mother fucker just like to have things killed."

"Well, that helps a lot" I muttered, knowing I was no closer to finding out who. This time, he laughed at me.

"Jade, you never cease to amaze me. I think I've given you enough though"

"Yes, you have. You've given me proof that I was right; someone's after us. And I can narrow it down to four of us"

"four?"

"Yep" he never asked who. After a moment of silence he spoke again.

"Should I start digging?"

"Can you?"

"I can"

"But don't get yourself trapped, all right?"

"I never do" he said, then was gone again. I felt it. I knew he'd contact me when he did, and after a few minutes I started slowly walking back to the hotel. My head was filled with information I'd just heard. Four of us in danger, and I was sure I knew which four. I shifted back, wanting to be in my own body again, but keeping my head bowed so no one could see my face or eyes.

Thankfully, no one was outside, or watching me, and I breathed out just a tiny sigh of relief. The next thing I knew, there was a sharp pain in the back of my head, and all of a sudden I hit the pavement.

Lights went off behind my eyelids, and then I was aware of someone standing over me, grumbling to himself. Then he spoke so I could clearly hear him.

"Just couldn't leave it alone, could you little bitch? Nooo, had to come here and start snoopin, didn't you? I saw you asking around, I know what you were up to. Little. you fuckin little slut!" His foot connected with my side, and I cried out and groaned with pain. The pain in the back of my head throbbed, and I guessed that whatever he'd hit me with was probably something metal or wood.

I turned onto my head, reaching back and touching the back of my head gingerly. My cap was long gone, and my side felt like he'd kicked me with steel-capped shoes.

"Well you know where that's got you? Dead. Yeah, that's right; dead as a doornail sweetie" he said the last word with distaste "And no one will ever know what happened to you" He swore and cursed some more, laughing crazily before he continued cursing and swearing more, and I looked up at him with slightly blurry eyes.

And then it hit me. He'd been at the airport back home! He'd followed me here! It all clicked into place even as my head throbbed and my side ached and this bastard was yakking away to himself.

"Didn't want to do this to your pretty little face, but you left me no choice!" He swung something down at my head, and I rolled and dodged the blow by inches.

"Who the hell has a bloody crowbar these days?!" I yelped as I scrambled up, partly on the street, to look at him. He had a murderous look in his eyes.

"I do. Less traceable that way" he murmured, more to himself than to me, coming at me again. I jumped back, but he came at me like a speeding train and was on me before I had time to blink. I tripped and fell, and as he came down at me with the black crowbar I shoved my feet up into his stomach, kicking as hard as he could.

He made a loud 'oof!' dropping his crowbar and stumbling back a little. I took the opportunity to get up again, ignoring the sudden dizziness that almost blinded me.

"YOU WHORE!" He screamed, and in seconds I was down on the ground again, with strong hands gripping my throat. He was trying to strangle me! _Focus Jade. Shift and teach him a lesson_ my mind said, but my focus was thrown of balance from the lack of air and the fact that the back of my head was killing me.

"DIE!! JUST FUCKIN DIE!!" He was screaming, and as my mind drifted I realised there was only one hope left. He punched me in the face, as if hoping I'd stop breathing faster if he hit me. I reached down, hoping against hope I'd remembered it, and almost cried with relief when I felt the handle attached to the side of my jeans.

I yanked it out, and with a last burst of strength I had, I thrust the dagger blindly upwards, hearing and feeling him react as it slid into flesh. His hands slid away from my neck, and he backed up enough for me to see where I'd stabbed him. Right in his heart.

He yanked it out, looking at it like he'd never seen a dagger before, then looked at me in such shock it was surprising. Then, like a stone statue, he fell to the pavement, with the dagger clattering on the ground not too far away from him.

I stumbled over, grabbing the dagger and checking his pulse. He was still alive, but not for much longer. There was nothing I could do for him now. Then again, I debated with myself if I wanted to or not, then shoved the idea out of my mind and held up the dagger in the moonlight.

"Nick, how many times have you saved my life cous?" I wondered as I looked at it, then wiped the blood that was still on the dagger on my shirt, then putting it back in its little holder. Crazy older cousins were good for many things, this being one of them.

Then the beating took its toll on me, and I sat down on the ground, defeated. Sweat trickled down my forehead, and I felt sick to my stomach. Although it was in self defense, I knew I'd just killed a man. How did Glass Dagger do it? I yanked my watch off, struggling to focus on the buttons in the dull light.

When I heard the voice at the other end I spoke quickly. "Ithiell? Get your sorry tail back over here. We have a problem"

---------------------------------------x--------------------------------

Ithiell picked me up in his fighter, disposing of the body by incinerating it with a gun. He'd brought Marco along with him, who fussed around with me like I was a helpless kitten.

I'd told them what I'd learnt, as well as what had happened with the hit-man. Marco seemed surprised, but Ithiell just nodded his head, looking grim.

"I knew you'd do something stupid like this-"

"Don't you _dare_ start to lecture me about-"

"But I have to say, it was worth it for once. Although, you could have asked for help" He smiled sadly.

"No, I couldn't. Not really. All I had was a gut feeling"

"And look where that got you" Marco said, his arm protectively around me as I sat on the floor of the fighter. Ithiell had mended my wounds and helped me to the best of his knowledge, but he couldn't get rid of the bruises on my neck and cheek that were beginning to show.

"Well, now you're over that 'gut feeling' I say we get down to some serious searching"

Ithiell said, shifting until he was human again. He turned and worked at the controls, since he'd taken me out of the area for the time being.

"But where do we start? I mean, if Jade couldn't-"

"One, I'm a changeling and an excellent hacker. I can get confidential files in a cinch since human security isn't as difficult as the Yeerks were, and two, the more the merrier"

"Say what?"

"I mean you two search, and Jade you be careful of that informant of yours, in case he decided to send someone after you-"

"If he wanted me dead he could've let me get in that car"

"Right. Check clubs, bars, any other social establishment where you think people might gossip or overhear things. I'll do what I can as well, and get all the info I can on this General guy."

"Thanks Ithiell. It's good to know you're on my side" He just smiled at me and continued to take me back to the hotel. No one knew Marco was there, since he'd become a roach and sat under my sleeve as my way quietly into the hotel.

The guards got suspicious, but I told them some bullshit story I can't even remember now, and they seemed to buy it. The next two days we did all we could, and Ithiell found hardly any information on the General, but we seemed to go around in circles. That afternoon I went to find I had a message; _why did the chicken cross the road?_ and I knew Chip had something to tell me.

So, I met him again, in a similar fashion to before, with Marco lingering in the shadows ready to morph.

"Jade"

"Chip. Did you know I had a hitman on my trail?" I asked bluntly. We were facing each other this time, and I saw the shadow in his eyes deepen. He sighed.

"Not until just now. This is too suspicious, lean against the wall and we'll talk"

"All right. What do you know?"

"That there was someone sent to watch you. Apparently you saw someone you shouldn't have, and since they thought you'd start to-"   
"Yeah, well, it's a bit late for that. What else?"

"Well, I don't think you're gonna like this next bit"

"Try me"

"Well, no one knows for sure, but.... but they think someone's trying to get back at the senator apparently something he's doing up there is pissing the General off" My blood ran cold. I knew. Beyond any doubt in my mind, I knew who they were after now. And it scared me more than the hitman did when he came close to killing me.

"Chip? Thanks" "But..."

"I know. Thanks. Now, get the hell out of here" He vanished into the night, and for a second I couldn't move. Marco's shadow made me jump, and I ran over to him as he came to me, grabbing his arms as he reached me.

"We have to get back. _Now_" "Why? And what about your..."

"Forget it! We need to get back before someone's killed" So we ran, with my heart feeling like lead, knowing it was almost certainly too late.


	9. Zero Hour

****

FYI Pacific Standard time is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard time. So 10:00 EST and 7:00 PST are the same time. And a special thanks to the aurthor of one least likely for the using ??? As a location idea.

__

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

January 31sh 2009

9:22 am EST

Mike hadn't heard from Larry in a few days, that was a bad sign. Ambassador Rodriguez was still alive and seemed to have signs of an attack when she gave her public speeches and that was a worse sign. 

"That stupid fuck!" Mike yelled slamming his hand into the wheel of his truck. He was no longer tailing the target, there was nowhere they could hide now. His cell phone rang, he picked it up knowing it was the general and knowing that he would not be pleased.

__

Washington DC

Lt. Hightower gave the General the news.

"Sir! Our contracts partner is deceased Sir!" He said. The general looked up from his desk, his face was in shadow.

"It doesn't matter, his partner was a moron anyway, his death increased the surplus oxygen on this planet."

"Sir! Our contract thinks that his partners new target had information on his intentions Sir!"

"I know that, I am not concerned. While I cannot have the hit take place where I wanted it to I can still have the hit done." The General reached into a drawer and pulled out an umbrella. "The target is having a book signing, our contract will be there, with this little beauty, there's a high powered pistol hidden in the umblrella. Hit the bottom a few times and BOOM! It'll blow their heart out their back!"

"Sir! I assume you want me to give this to him a our scheduled rendezvous point Sir?!

"That would be correct, and by the way send out Foreman to delay Nancy fucking Drew from contacting the target or their spouse. And if all else fails the use of deadly force is authorized."

"Sir will do Sir!" The General smiled.

"Good then, dismissed." After Hightower left the General stood up. Things may have been slown down by Jade, but of course if she began to be a problem she would find herself as dead as the target.

__

Somewhere in Ohio

10:02 am EST

"'On a long and lonseme highway, east of Omaha, you can listen to the engine moaning out it's one note song, you can think about the woman, or the girl you knew the night before, but your thoughts…'"

"Erik will you please cut that out, I don't like Bob Seager!" Carlos said. Carlos was a tall thin black man he was bald even at 35 he looked a lot younger in the face and that helped us with young blacks. Carlos and I had met in the Yerk pool, I had given him a gun and he had been a big asset in the attack. I found out later that it was because he was a 4 star general.

"Hey man I wasn't singing Bob Seager I was singing Metallica." I said.

"Uh I hate them too I shared a cage with James Hettifield one time."

"Hettifield was a controller?"

"Who else can you blame for that _St. Anger _CD damn Yerks couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." I laughed at that then sat up in the bed that I had in our traveling bus.

"So man what's on the list for today?" I asked.

"Whelp," Carlos said "I'm speaking at the local university, that's gonna be fun…" (Universities in America were hell for Republicans). "And you're speaking at one of those chastity things."  
"Wait up," I said. "What am I speaking about?"  
"Your realtionship with Karen, duh!"

"You know you could have told me about that before we crossed the state line."

"Hey don't look at me, I don't plan this my wife does, take it up with her."

"Carlos I'd rather get into a fist fight with Fred than a verbal confrontation with Emily."

"I know that that's why I get her to make the schedules less complaining."

"Yeah well that means I need to write a whole new speech, and you know what that means, I 'don't feel much like writin' I just wish the trip was through." Carlos groaned.

"I cannot wait until we have different offices."

__

Seattle, Washington

7:02 am PST

Private Joseph Foreman entered the detainment room. Jade and Marco were standing there in their underwear both wearing murderous expressions. Foreman paced the room twice (taking extra looks at Jade).

"Ok you two, once again I'm really sorry about this…"

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be you bastard!" Jade yelled. "I want a telephone NOW!"

"I'm sorry," Forman said. "but all the phone lines are out." That was the truth, Foreman had a phone jamer in his back pocket. "And we've recived a threat on both of your lives.

"Then why did you make strip to our underwear?" Jade asked. Foreman threw their clothes back at them.

"I don't recall telling you to do that, these airport security types, they love a practical joke."

"Wait a minute your not with the airport security?" Marco asked.

"No," Foreman said. "I'm US Space Force, like I said there is a threat on your lives and you are to be held here until further notice."

"Look," Jade said after getting dressed, she had a nasty look in her eyes that made Foreman feel for his pistol. "There is a life on the line here, get me a direct line to senator Bishop now!"

"Ma'am as I said there is no phone service, all planes are grounded and communications are out for three miles." It was a very powerful phone jamer.

"Then at least let us out of this damn cage!" Jade said standing up.

"Ma'am you need to sit back down if you leave this area you will be killed, there is a threat on your life, do you not understand that? Until we have resolved the threat you must remain here." Jade seemed to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown… good.

11:00 am EST

Mike walked into the bar, at the end of the bar was one of the contacts that the General used. Mike walked over and sat next to him.

"Buy you a drink?" He asked.

"Sorry but I already have one." The contact said.

"Could always use another."  
"If I have anymore I'll be drunk."  
"Isn't that what a bar is for?" Mike was irritated at the ritual, they knew it was him why did have to go through such a stupid conversation.

"What am I supposed to do? That Rodriguez bitch knows about us now and it's only a matter of time before she warns one of the Bishops…"

"Calm down," The contact said. "The General has that under control Mrs. Rodriguez and her husband are confined at LAX and will be until your task is complete."

"How long do you expect to hold her? Because once she gets out she'll warn the target."

"Relax, my friend, the target is having a book signing soon all you need to do is attack them there."  
"How am I going to sneak a gun in like that, they'll be security…" The contact tossed an umbrella into he lap. "What the fuck is this." He said pointing the umbrella at the contact and shaking it.

"Stop that!" the contact seemed panicked he calmed down. "There is a pistol hidden in the umbrella, you point that at the target then extend the umbrella to it's full length. Hit the handle and it will fire, hit it until it stops firing then run."

"Run, after killing a popular conservative in the middle of a book store filled with more conservatives not to mention a few protestors, how am I going to get out."

"Here," The contact handed him a green canister. "It's a flash/bang grenade makes a loud noise a flash of light so close your eyes and cover your ears when you…"

"I know what a flash/bang is!"

"Good, then toss it and run."

"I want double for this."

"The General has given me permission to offer you and extra ten thousand."

"That will suffice." Mike said, not wanting to anger the general.

"Then our business is concluded I suggest you get to the store immediately." Mike left.


	10. Too late, to damn late

__

Cleveland Ohio

12:00 pm EST

****

Erik

I had just been called to the stage. I found it funny that I had been told to do a speech on chastity. Yes I was the one who insisted on it when Karen and I were dating but Karen had long since admitted she was glad we had waited. Her book had a whole chapter on it and she had handed a lot of liberals their balls on a plate when they tried to disagree with her. (Having a talk show host for a wife also means that I _always _lose the arguments.)

My book on the Yerk war had only a slight reference to my relationship, and I rarely had a chance to talk about it on the senate floor. But I guess my views still got out there. Although writing the speech wasn't easy. It was like when I tried to write my own wedding vows, very hard to put my feelings in words.

I had called Karen and asked for her help, but she was as busy as I was with her own tour and couldn't be much help.

"Just tell them how that first night felt to you, that should do the trick." She had said. So that became part of my speech, and soon I had an idea.

It was cold and we were outdoors, there was still snow on the ground and the snow relefectd light perfectly. I was standing in front of a memorial stadium built to an involuntary controller who was killed in the war.

I stood up and told my story. I told how I had been in very few relationships before Karen. How I had never really gotten close enough to want sex with anyone before then.

I told how I had been attacked one night, the night I got my scar, and Karen had saved my life. How we had been inseparable since. How thing began to get awkward when Karen began to fear she would die before we had sex. How I had to fight with all my strength not to give in, how I somehow succeeded.

How we had been married in the valley one day after Amy had died. How that night had been one so wonderful, how I felt like our bodies were one, how I felt whole and new the next day. How that night was the last night I had ever been bothered by my night terrors.

By the end of the speech I had most of the crowd in tears. When I finished I sat down to chants of

"Carlos Bishop 50 states" our slogan (our goal was to win all 50 states in the electoral college.) It was a good feeling, I knew I had found my calling…

After a few more speeches I went into the stadium's book store where I was scheduled to do a book signing. When I at down I noticed that there was a group of protestors in the back of the store, they were holding umbrellas, it was a part of the slogan _Cram Carlos, Beat Bishop_. So far I had been "beaten" with riffle butts (for my pro-gun stance) medical staffs (for my pro-life stance), photo albums (for my pro-family stance.) etc. etc.

I hadn't seen umbrellas aimed at me though and I wondered why. I turned to Christi, My body guard.

"What's with the umbrellas?"

"I asked them," She said. "They said that they were against your abstinence position but they couldn't find giant condoms." We both laughed quietly. I became serious.

"Keep an eye on them, you never know what these morons might do."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3:00 pm EST

Mike walked into the store holding his umbrella there was a group of protestors holding umbrella's too chanting "bash Bishop" or something like that. They helped him fit in. Mike got in line holding a copy of the book. He had read some of it and he liked it, it made some good points. It made it harder for him to kill the target.

The target, that's how he always talked about the people he killed. If he didn't he may start feeling sorry for them and that would be the death of his job. Mike did this work for the money. He was ex-CIA and had a talent for pursuing and killing targets.

He had been dismissed from the CIA for killing a target he was not supposed to kill. It was self-defense but that didn't matter to his boss. After leaving the CIA he became a hit man he quickly became known as the man who could get things done.

This latest assignment originally called for him to kill the target in a bathroom. He didn't know why he was asked to and he didn't ask. Although from what he saw of the Generals prim and proper men it was almost certainly politically or militarily related, maybe both.

The line had moved up he was next. The person ahead of him was brief and he was at the table in no time. He had seen photos of the target before (and more than a few were revealing to say the least), but when he looked into the face of Karen Bishop he was literally dumbfounded. She was beautiful. She looked up at him and gave him a beautiful smile.

"Hey there," She said. He saw her eyes, the were dark green with flecks of blue, they reminded him of his sisters eyes. His sister who… "so would you like me to sign your book?"

"Oh, yeah," Mike said. He handed her the book. She signed it. Mike picked up his umbrella. "Mrs. Bishop, I'm sorry." He said.

"Sorry for what?" She said laughing a little. Mike sighed.

"This…" He extended the umbrella, it was thicker than normal, he hit the tip and a gunshots rang out each time he did. Blood exploded from behind Karen settling in a mist over the books and tables. Mike threw the grenade and ran. Knocking people over as he went feeling remorse for what he did, for the first time in twenty years.

__

Cleveland

I enjoyed talking with my supports I enjoyed answering their questions, but signing my name to endless books got real old real fast. Of course I couldn't show it, if I did I might piss off my voting base and then Carlos and I would be in trouble.

After abut the thirty-fourth person in line someone barged into the shop and ran over to the desk I was at. It was Timothy a member of Karen's secret service. He looked flustered. He walked over.

"Senator," He said. "I need to talk to you." I waved him off.

"Just a minute Tim… what did you say you name was…"  
"Senator your wife's been shot." I stopped midway through signing the paper.

"Your kidding me, you Tim that's a bad joke a really bad fucking joke…"

"Sir it is no joke, I have been asked to escort you to a hospital in Pittsburgh. We have a chopper the jounrey will take about two hours."

"Hey I know what this is it's some demented political prank, well I'll play along." I said and I followed Tim out, into media Hell.

"Senator Bishop have you heard anything on the status of your wife's surgery…"

"Senator do you think her attack was politcly motivated."

"Senator do you think your support for the Yerk war bill may have provoked this violence…" It sunk in, big time! No media frenzy would come out like this for a joke. I forced my way through the reporters and onto the chopper. I secretly hoped a few of them would loose their heads in the rotor blades. Once we were airborne I asked the question I didn't want answered.

"Is she, d… dead?" I asked.

"She's in surgery, but Erik, I, it, it really doesn't look good, she was shot four times in the chest at point blank range, the man who shot her has disappeared…"  
"DO YOU THINK I GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT THE GUMAN HOW IS MY WIFE?"

"She's in surgery last I heard, the doctors are trying to help her but there is so much damage that, it's unlikely that, she'll make it out, Erik, I, I don't know what to say…"

"Don't say anything, leave me be for awhile." Tim walked out. I began to pray more passionately than ever before.

"God please, don't take her from me, God please, I've already lost my parents, my sister not her too, she's my life, she's everything to me, I _need _her, God please, please don't do this to me, please…" Suddenly I felt the helicopter touch down. Right next to me another one touched down.

Marco and Jade jumped out of it but I ignored them. I ran into the two doors that lead to the hospitals top floor. Standing there waiting for me was my best friend when I was in medical school, Ethan Miller. Ethan had a tear in his eye and my entire world collapsed.

"Erik, she's, she's gone…"

"NO!" I yelled. "That's not true it, it can't be, not Karen I… I want to see the body!" Ethan looked scared I would fin out later it was because my eyes were burning with anger.

"Erik I don't think you want to see that, it's, it's pretty bad." I slammed him against the wall.

"You take me to see my wife or so help me I will reach into your pants and rip your dick off, TAKE ME TO THE MORGUE.!" Ethan complied He took me into an elevator that went down, down, down, down, down, down, down…

When it stopped I felt the coldness of the morgue the smell of embalming fluid. He took to one of the large freezers.

"I guess you need to identify her anyway…" he slid the tray out. I was hit by the smell, the smell that was nothing like Karen at all. Ethan removed the blood soaked sheet that was covering her. I looked down at her and collapsed to my knees.

Her stomach was coated in dry blood, her chest had a huge whole in it. She was missing one breast and the other was half gone and tattered. I looked at her eyes. I screamed, I couldn't help it. Her eyes stared up at me, unfocused, dilated. I reached out to touch her hand…

My hand snapped back and hit a nearby table so hard I screamed in pain. Her hands were cold, ice cold, deathly cold, she was dead, that was now a fact… I buried my face in my hands and cried, I don't know how long I was there but soon I felt a hand on my shoulder


	11. A Time to Mourn

****

Chapter by Lil Maniac

Jade

I was mad. I had just been embarrassed and held in airport security for God knows how long, and they didn't even let me use a damn phone! Finally the guy let us out he gave us a chopper to make up for the delay Marco kept saying we could stop it, I agreed to his face, but in my heart I knew. I knew.

Then we heard it from the man flying the chopper; Karen had been shot, and I screamed at him to take us to the hospital she was at. Marco tried to calm me, but there was no way I could be calmed now. And I would mop the floor with those assholes that held us there, as well as the one that shot her. If she died.

I refused to think about that, and soon we were landing. Beside us, another chopper landed, and Erik exploded out of it. I saw him screaming at a man, before they both ran off into the hospital. 

"Oh god. Marco."

"Shh, let's just follow them, okay?" He took my arms and helped me out, then we bolted after them. I knew something else was landing behind the two helicopters, but I didn't turn around to see what. I knew who it was.

Very soon, we found ourselves in the morgue. I stopped dead in my tracks, my legs feeling like led as Erik ran off with the other guy. Marco tried to get me moving, but I wouldn't move. I _couldn't_.

If I moved, it would be real, and everything would go back to pain and death. I didn't think I could take it. Marco seemed to read my thoughts, and gently said

"Jade, for Erik. Do it for him. He needs us now"

I don't know how, but it got me moving again. I might have been in shock, but the pain he was probably feeling now was unimaginable. Nothing I'd been through could measure up to Erik loosing the love of his life. So we ran, and after a little while we were in the room. He was sitting next to her, screaming.

Tears streaked down his face, probably without him even knowing it, and his eyes were hurt and angry, more than I'd ever seen before. Then I saw... then I saw her. Karen. Or... Karen's body. And it made me want to throw up.

How could anyone want to do such a thing. How? Before I knew it I was moving forward, seeing Erik now had his head in his hands, and I know he was fighting back the tears. With shaking fingers I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

He jerked, then looked up at me. He tried to form words, but none came.

"Erik... I... I'm so sorry. I tried to... but it was too late..." I fought to keep the tears back, but before I knew it I was pouring tears.

"Jade, I... it's not... please don't let it be real" Erik sobbed.

"It is. Erik, I'm sorry. I wish I could have... but I couldn't get here in time" I kneeled down beside him, taking his hand in mine. Then it seemed like he was looking at my bruises, and touched the one on my cheek.

"What happened to you? Why... did they send someone..."

"Yes. They did. But, it was because I was snooping. I uncovered a plot to kill... and I couldn't get here in time. I'm sorry. Oh god I'm sorry…" His face turned cold and hard, then to one of such pain I could almost feel what he felt. It hurt inside, more than I could ever imagine. "She's de- she's gone Jade. How can I... how can I live..."

"You can. For her" came the new voice, and in seconds Ian was beside us, and he placed a firm hand on Erik's shoulder. "You can go on for her. She wouldn't want you to die"

Outside, I heard Amanda screaming, and Marco was trying to calm her down.

"No! No! She's not. she could still be alive! Please, let me see, I'll know-"

"Amanda! Amanda stop it! She's dead, do you hear me! She's dead!" Marco said shaking her.

"No! I won't believe it! God... oh no, the blood..." I knew she'd seen Karen then. She was denying it, just like Erik was.

"She's dead. There, Marco said it, and now I said it. She's dead. Oh god!" Erik said sadly he suddenly screamed, falling on the ground and curling into a ball. I grabbed onto him and held him, trying to calm him down without snapping like a twig myself.

"Erik, we're going to find the one who did this, I can swear to you that much. I will not rest until I find the creeps who took her, all right? We're going to find them, and make them _pay_!" There was a viciousness in Ian's voice that told me he didn't lie. "Jade, what did you say this guy's name was?"

"What?"

"What did they call him!"

"Oh, uh... The General. They called him The General. I don't know if it's a person or an actual fraction" Ian nodded at me, then knelt down beside Erik, who was screaming in anguish, curled up into a ball beside me.

"No, no. she's dead..." He sobbed.

"And we'll find her killer. I swear it on my own grave, we'll find this 'General', and you can personally make him pay" For a while Erik just shook, then he said in an icy tone,

"Oh god yes he will"


	12. And a Time to be Comforted

__

Arlington National Cemetery

Washington DC

The funeral was the next week. Erik, with the help of Ian, kept busy by planning and taking care of the funeral arrangements. There was a lot to be done, but sadly it was all for one purpose; to bury someone. I didn't want to believe it, but even though I knew it was true and there was no denying the truth.

I distanced myself somehow, and helped Erik when it was time to give public speeches on the tragedy. I partly prepped his formal speeches, and tried to keep him looking together enough to continue doing them. The story itself was soon everywhere; on the news, in the papers and magazines, and everywhere you went you'd hear snippets of people's theories.

Marco even made a tribute show specially for Karen. He made sure she would always be remembered. When the funeral came, I didn't know how Erik would cope with it. With Ian, and sometimes Amanda, he seemed alright. With me, he completely shut down. I guess, in a way, he blamed me for Karen's death. I didn't blame him either. I mostly blamed myself anyway.

We went into the tightly packed chapel, and listened as the priest, or whoever he was, made a speech to start the funeral. He gave general information about her, nothing specific, and as he did I stared at the open casket. She looked so peaceful, with her hands folded over her stomach, and her face made up like she was going out to a party or something. She was buried in a green coat that Erik had bought her.

She was as beautiful as the day I'd first met her. Then, I was called up to speak. I'd taken a lot of time in preparing my short speech, since I couldn't find the right words to say. Then again, sometimes simple is best, as my mother says.

"What is there to say about Karen Bishop? There is so much to be said, and so little time to say it. What I will say though, is she was a true friend, and a trustworthy ally in war. She was a true warrior, and proved herself to me and many others along the way. Her strength, and beauty, will never be matched by another in my books. She had a good heart, and knew what to say to whom.

"Safe to say, she stumped me quite a few times in the past. There will never be another like our Karen. Ever. She loved Erik with everything she had, and fought with so much bravery I doubt even any of the Black Angels could muster. So I say this; a final goodbye to Karen Bishop, one of the truest and dearest friends one could ever have. Goodbye Karen, and may your soul rest with those you hold dear" I left, feeling like I'd just said a whole muddle of things, only stopping to look once down at her body. It honestly looked like she would get out of that coffin and leave.

The large groups left, and Karen's coffin was taken out to the place she'd be buried. The priest, and the five of us followed him. We stood on one side as he spoke the last words. "For God so loved the world…" his voice was solemn, and then the coffin was slowly lowered into the ground. Amanda and I tossed white roses onto the coffin, and Erik tossed a single red rose; the color of love, and the color of blood. Then the priest left, and we just stood there as they covered up the grave. "Her legacy will live on forever, you know that, don't you?" Marco put a hand on Erik's shoulder, and he just sighed. Tears were beginning to prick his eyelids again, even though it looked like he'd cried an ocean already.

"I know. Thank you. All of you"

"De nada" Marco muttered, then we all turned to leave.

"I'm going up to the Gurwon planet" Ian said.

"What! Why?" Amanda asked, not quite believing her own ears. In fact, neither did I. "I have been searching for any news on this General, and have come up with absolute squat. I had some leads for awhile then they went cold, it's like the guy disappeared, vanished. So, we've been thinking, the best place to start our search is in the fight up there, Erik wanted to send our guys to Gurwon, and that's why… that's why we're here today… "

"Ian! You're not seriously thinking of-"

"I am Amanda. I'm sorry, but whoever did this cannot get away with this. If it had been anyone else, the story wouldn't change. And in case you haven't noticed, your best friend was almost killed too"

"Ian, don't you dare use me as an excuse to-" I snapped.

"Jade, look at yourself. Look at us. At this" he indicated to Karen's grave "If you don't think that's enough to go looking for this creep, then I don't know what is"

"Look, I didn't say we shouldn't, I just said don't use me against Amanda. Or in fact against anyone. It won't help" We began to walk down the hill to the three cars waiting for us. "I'll be going up there sometime next week. Anyone else who is coming, come, but if you don't." Erik let the sentence hang in the air.

"I'm coming" Amanda said, shocking us all.

"Me too" Marco, patting Erik on the back "I wouldn't miss another suicide mission for the world"

"I will too then. For Karen. For all of us" I said, knowing Ian was right in every way. We reached the cars, and Ian and Amanda got in first, with the driver tipping his hat and shutting the door behind them. Then I heard...

(Jade, go with him. Stay with him until we all go up. He needs someone now, and I don't know anyone more fit for the job. Take care of him, he needs someone like you) I stopped in my tracks as Ian and Amanda's car started moving away. Then I smiled, knowing he had me pegged. "Erik, I'm coming to stay with you for tonight"

"What?" Erik and Marco said in unison.

"You shouldn't be alone now. I'll stay and keep you company, all right?"

"Jade, you don't have to-"

"Oh yes I do Erik. You shouldn't be alone. I know what will happen when you're alone in that house and I won't let it"

"All right then, I'll come too. I'll stay-"

"Marco, it's all right. You have to stay and take care of things for me while I'm gone. Bring my mail over to me though, ok?"

"Jade" they said in unison again, and I put my hands up at each of them.

"Enough! I'm staying to take care of you Erik and that's final! And Marco, take care of my sisters and brothers this weekend when they come to visit. I'm going home one last time to get some things, and then I'm coming over to your house, all right?" Erik and Marco nodded, and for a second I felt a little guilty that I'd yelled at them. But then I realised they both needed a wakeup call right now. This was a tough time, and you had to be tough to get through it. No matter what.

-x-

I sat on the bed in the guest room, feeling a little lonely. Maybe I should have let Marco come too. I shrugged off the feeling and went to walk around. Erik was in the shower, but I knew he wouldn't mind if I just had a look around. It was a beautiful house, even more amazing than my own.

I looked out over a river through an amazing window, gawking at how much I could see.

"Must be bullet-proof" I muttered, shaking my head and wondering how he got such big a window for the place if it was bullet-proof. I also wondered what else was bullet-proof.

"It is you know" I turned to see Erik come up to me, his hair still damp from the shower. He managed a weak smile as he stood beside me, looking out at the river.

"Ah. Nice to know we won't be shot by just standing here" I tried to smile, tried to lighten the mood, but there was just no way to. We looked out the window in a strange but yet comfortable silence.

"Well, maybe we should go down and see what I can get you for dinner" He said.

"You mean us. But sure, let's go" I turned and made my way out into the hallway before he could protest, taking the stairs two at a time and making my way into the kitchen. By the time Erik had followed me I was already raiding the fridge. 

"What are you doing?" 

"Finding something to- oh yuk, you really gotta clean out your fridge more- cook for us. I think that cheese is nice and furry, and that... oh, wait! Oh no-Euchk! Spoiled meat..."

"Well I have been gone a few months…" Erik said.

I went over to the cupboards, finding nothing there that I knew how to cook.

"Damn! How do you feel about Chinese?"

"Jade, I don't really-" but it was too late. I'd picked up the phone and started dialing the number I'd used so many times before. I told the guy the address, then picked my favorites, then a few more for Erik that he would hopefully eat.

Erik tried to protest again, but I pretended to ignore him, instead telling him not to worry, that I'd pay for it all myself. I guess after about the sixth or seventh time he gave up. When the food came, I practically had to force it down his throat. I taught him the very difficult way of using chopsticks, and even got a hint of a smile from him once.

Well, that's what I want to believe. When I was satisfied he'd eaten enough for him not to die of hunger, I pulled out a stack of cards Robert had given me once and played Thirteen and a game called Bullshit. I tried my best to keep his mind off Karen and what had happened, knowing it would only hurt him more.

Now, I'm not saying remembering is a bad thing, I'm just saying sometimes you need to get away from the real world for a while, just long enough to recharge and keep you going for another agonising day. When ten thirty rolled around, Erik said he was going to bed, and to help myself to anything I wanted, the T.V, some games on his laptop, and just stuff like that.

Then, he went to bed. I could tell I hadn't done a bit of good, and cursed Ithiell for just being a big alien pain in the ass.

Sometime later, I was reading a book in my guest bed, my eyelids slowly closing as I read the same line again and again. I might have fallen asleep, I don't know, but all I remember is becoming aware of some horrid shrieking coming from within the house. From within Erik's room.


	13. Preparing for War

****

Erik

__

Washington DC

February 10th 2009

2:11 am EST

It had been rough, seeing my love, my life, my soul, my, my everything taken from me. I had recvied a lot of sympathy, most of it from Karen's listeners. I got a card from Sean Hannity and one from Ann Coulter (that included her article on Karen and how she was unfairly bullied by her liberal listeners.)

Some support came from other countries, the Prime Minister of England sent me a sword and dagger thought to be one of her ancestor's (I now carried the dagger with me wherever I went and planned to take it and the sword with me to Gurwon). An African tribe sent me an ivory tusk painted black as a symbol of mourning. (They also gave me an offer to hex the man who killed her which I regrettably rejected).

Not surprisingly the least support came from the homeland. The democrats in the Senate where quick to make good statements about Karen and her stances that they had said the exact opposite of not a month before. And of course there were the real radical left wingers who said I deserved it they had gotten a set of rather nasty response letters written by Fred. (which used curse words in ways I didn't know you could use them.)

But the past few weeks had been filled more so with the horrible part of being in the public eye. The God damn cock sucking, ass fucking, shit sniffing, no-brained idiots in the media wouldn't leave me alone! It was always:

"Senator Bishop did you know anything about the plot against your wife?"  
"Senator Bishop why did you continue your tour even though there was a threat on your lives?"

"Senator Bishop are you going to be joining the battle on Gurwon"

"Senator Bishop what is the _Anna-James_?" It was endless and each question brought one of two things either an image of my wife lying there broken, destroyed on that cold table, or a stab of guilt. It was my fault that Karen was dead. I was the one who wanted to be Vice-President, _I _was the one who wanted to go on tour. Karen wanted only to help me win, if I had just delayed the tour for a few weeks, hell, a few days, YSOD would have found the threat, and Karen would still be alive.

The funeral was the first time that I had been able to go anywhere without the Secret Service following me. Homeland Security had told me it was because I may be a target too, but I knew the real reason: suicide watch… I didn't blame them, I would have tried it if they hadn't been there.

Jade had also been sent to keep me from snuffing myself out, she didn't tell me that but I knew. Jade had tried to keep my mind off what had happened, she kept me busy playing cards and other things. I normally shut myself off from her, I didn't want to burden her with my problem, she did all she could to help me, and I could tell she felt bad about not getting there in time.

I went to bed at around ten and fell asleep instantly. I woke up screaming louder than I ever had before. Someone was in the room.

"Erik what's the matter." Karen?

"Oh thank God!" I said. I grabbed her and kissed her, then I saw it wasn't Karen, it was Jade. I blushed. "Sorry…" Jade smiled.

"It's Ok, what on earth happened to you?" I must looked bad, my hair was out of control and I was drenched in sweat.

"Night terror, I didn't think to tell you about them, I sometimes wake up screaming from a nightmare I can't remember I hadn't had em since I got married…" I was hyperventilating. Jade put her hand on my shoulder.

"Calm down, calm down." She said gently.

"I need to, take, take a walk…" I stood up and put a coat on over my bathrobe (a wedding gift from Rachel.) And walked out of my room.

"I'm going with you." Jade said and I didn't argue. I walked out the back door to my house down a cement path that led to the river. I stepped onto a dock and turned on a nearby lamp. There I stood and looked at the water flowing and saw the city across the river. I was calming, my heart slowed down and I relaxed.

"Wow," Jade said. "That's beautiful…"

"Yeah," I said. "You know I've been out a few times before when I needed to think, it's inspiring, I owe my resignation speech to this dock…" I had resigned a day after Karen's death, I knew then that I'd be going back to battle.

"Erik, how are you planning to get there, I mean are you getting the team back together?"

"Well Becky's already stationed there with the Andilate task-force. I called Fred last week, but he's not going to come, you know he adopted a child, and he has a job teaching now. I'll be going to the Department of Armed services tomorrow to get our mercenary permit."

"What's that?"

"Jade, you need to know this stuff, if you're coming with us you need one too. The mercenary permit allows us to fight in the war as an ally of the US space force, we won't be fired on and we will be able to do what we want for the most part and not be prosecuted. We will also be given a rank and a number of mercenary soldiers.

"Since the Yerk War bill was passed the day after my resignation when we go there we will have to deal with space force members, we have no authority over them nor them over us…"

"Which means it's going to be a much more confusing war zone."

"Precisely" I said. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes I flipped one out and lit it.

"Erik! Since when do you smoke?" I took a drag and coughed slightly. Then pushed the cigarette to the side of my mouth.

"Since senate Democrats replaced Jennifer Garner in my dreams. The way I see it the stress was going to give me heart failure anyway." I said leaving out the fact that I was up to a pack a day since Karen died.

"You know those things cause cancer right?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, but I can morph it off, cancer isn't DNA based enough to follow from morph to morph." I walked into the dock and put my feet into the freezing water. I thought back to the days that Karen and I would go out here I would sit with my feet in the water she would put her arms around me and rest her head on my shoulder from behind. It brought a slight tear to my eye. Jade came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Ok, you need to come in before mother nature kills you." I reluctantly stood up and headed back inside. Once inside Jade asked a question that I knew was coming.

"Like I was saying earlier: how are you planning to get to Gurwon, I mean don't you need a ship?" I smiled. I opened my lap top and typed in a password. The big screen TV in the living room crackled to life. On it was an image of a huge ship. I saw it through her eyes: a large, thick black bar with two massive thick wings extending from each side. On the bottom of the wings were several regular space engines, on the top were specialized _Drajarashred _(Dra-jar-a-shred) cannons.

These cannons were a mix of the three energy based weapons the Yerk Dracon beam, the Andilate Shredder and the Changeling Jara Gun. _Drajarashred _weapons were based on my design and very powerful.

At one end of the bar was the bridge, a large glass dome that looked out onto space. The dome was built of _Wurktoud _glass, glass mined from secret areas in the Taxxon home-world the galss absorbed almost anything fired on it.

Hanging down from the back was an armor cutter, an invention of the human race, it was a powerful laser that could pierce most ship armor, thus making it weaker. The cutter looked like a camera with a very small lens.

On top of the bar were four more domes, each one housed the conservatory, the library, the lounge, and training area respectively.

"Wow!" Jade said. "Is that…"

"The _Anna-James _the most advanced ship in existence." I said.

"So how did you get it." I smiled.

"When the races of the world offered me compensation for my battles I didn't ask for money, or fame, I asked for a ship, the only money I wanted was from Earth which is why I have this big house. This has the best of all Hork-Baijar, Andilate, Taxxon and Changeling technology. It's about half the size of New York City, so obviously it can't be landed, it's in orbit around the moon right now. I'll be using it there's a shuttle scheduled to take me there next week."

"I'll go with you."

"You sure, I thought Ian had his own ship."

"Yeah but he's riding with you too, he thinks we need to stick together on this one." (So you don't go into a literal sucide misson to join your wife was what she must have added mentally)

"I guess he's right, we stick together then there's a light chance we won't have to have another funeral for one of our friends." I was lying and we both knew it.

I went back to bed, my night terrors didn't bother me this time. And they never did again because I remembered the nightmare this time. In it Karen had died, that had been the demon that had been tormenting me for years. It was gone now, because the nightmare had come true. I cried myself to sleep.

__

9:22 am EST

I had to get up and shower quickly. Jade and I ate leftover Chinese food for breakfast then headed directly to the Pentagon. Let me tell you something, you think post 9-11 airport security is bad? Try post 9-11 post Yerk war, post assassination of a politically sensitive figure military security.

We went through five Kanondra radiation scans, four metal detectors, three pat downs, two background checks, and had to place all our weapons in a hat tree, I mean a locker.

Finally we were sent to the second layer of the building. We were brought into a conference room The secretary was already seated there, along with a man who was taller than me with brown hair and a five o'clock shadow.

"What are you doing here Robert?" Robert Kesslly , a warrior, a man who had turned the tide of battle more than a few times. Robert had been in the military for awhile and was already a colonel. He was also engaged to Becky the last member of Glass Dagger. Of the Black Angles Robert had the most pronounced Australian accent in Jade and Amanda you couldn't even hear it. Robert's wasn't very thick either, he was far from Steve Erwin but you could tell he wasn't from Brooklyn.

"I'm here to get a transfer confirmed."

"Why?" I asked.

"I need your signatures on these forms." The sectary said. We quickly filled them out, and handed them back. The sectary smiled. "Congratulations you are in the US mercenary army at the rank of general, Jade because you work with the US government you cannot become a full general, but you are both inducted at the rank of staff sergeant. Dismissed." He walked out.

"Wow, he was warm…" Jade said sarcastically.

"That's the US space for you sweetheart," Robert said. "Get used to it. By the way Erik how are you planning to get to Gurwon." I told him about the _Anna-James._

"I plan to take the ship there and stay there until I've found what I'm looking for," I said. "And if your going you'd better start getting into shape." We all laughed at that one, Robert was built like a brick wall. Jade's beeper went off, she checked it.

"I gotta take this," She said. "It's about my going to the war, apparently the Changeling Embassy is a little pissed about it, meaning I'm going to remain a duplomat for another twenty seconds so if you need a favor now is the time to ask."

"Jade," I said. "Don't jeaprodize your career for…"

"Erik, I am not going to rest until whoever killed Karen pays, you got that, I know how it feels to lose someone you love…" she walked out of the room. Robert turned to me.

"Erik, I need to tell you something, first, I'm sorry I couldn't make it for Karen's funeral but things got a little chaotic. Erik, earlier you asked me why I'm getting transferred, it's for two reasons, one, because the unit I'm moving to is the only of two being deployed so far, two I think I may have a lead on who killed Karen." I perked up.

"What's the lead, a guy from the CIA said it was Hook-Blade or something like them."

"Come on Erik, think about it, besides the fact that the last known member of Hook-Blade is in a federal prison, look at the whole thing: General, the flash/bang grenade used at the site, a hidden gun. All of this points to something military. Not to mention how fast the guy vanished, I'm going to be given command of a platoon as a sergeant I can do a lot of digging there, hell, for all I know one of my men may know something."

"Robert," I said. "Don't you dare go risking your life for this, you've got Becky to think about."  
"Becky's why I'm doing this, you know how close they were, Becky is in shock, I want to see this guy pay as much as you do because I can't stand to see her suffer like this."

"Thanks," I said. "But don't let that distract you from battle, that's your first priority."

"Sir yes sir!" Robert said sarcastically. Then he patted me on the shoulder. "You hang in there man, I know it must hurt to lose Karen but, it will pass." He walked out.

The General was sitting in his office. Everything had gone according to plan, he hadn't thought the Yerk war bill would be passed because of what happened but, now that it had there would be no need for him to become a mercenary, all for the better. Bishop was a powerful man, but not a good one to work with. The General would prefer that he only have to deal with Bishop at a distance.

There was already an investigation into the attack, but the General had been very careful to have a trial that would lead to another person. It would take a genius to trace the work back to the General of course news about him as a crime lord had spread but it would soon pass. The General knew he was done with the clandestine killings.

He had done what he had to do, now all that remained was not to get caught. The door to his office opened.

"Sir! You have a visitor sir!" the Lt. said. The General already knew who it was, and sure enough Itheil AKA Ian McBarnes walked into his office…

__

Dara, Syria (Near the Jordan Border)

10:23 am EST

Zed and Sutur had fled Nawa as soon as word of Mutuk's capture had reached them. As they had thought Mutuk sang like a bird. US special forces had already made numerous arrests of the members of Hook-Blade, almost all controllers were now in custody and 50 of the non-controller base was also captured.

Then word of Karen Bishop's death also came. Zed was furious about that, he knew what that would do: it would bring Erik Bishop to battle in Gurwon, that was going to be bad news Bishop was an excellent general and that meant the ground attack on Gurwon would be that much harder. Not to mention the _Anna-James _would be a big asset for the space fights.

The two needed to get where they could leave earth, that wasn't going to be easy, they were doing all they could to get off Earth, it was no longer safe. They would need to get to Gurwon, the battle for Earth was now officially lost.

Zed was speeding in the Hummer they were driving they needed to make the Jordan border fast. Jordan was the location of a hidden ship. It would allow them to get to Gurwon. They were travling with all the data they had collected about the Space Force's fighting, as well as information on the Animorph's Glass Dagger and the Black Angles. The back of the Hummer was overflowing with boxes and the bulk of the information was on the _Anna-James _and it's few weaknesses. A defeat of that ship may help the Yerks win the war.

Getting the information had been hard and there was no guarantee it was accurate. Bishop was known for spreading bad intelligence. The information was the only copy. It was impossible to communicate with the Empire from Earth with YSOD monitoring all spaceward transmissions. Zed knew that it was very likely this information could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Suddenly a US Humvee pulled in front of Zed. He swerved to avoid it. The force sent a seatbelt less Sutur through the windshield. No time to help, Zed ran over him and escaped the city. The border was only a few miles away…

A bullet entered his back paralyzing him. He saw most of his stomach explode onto the steering wheel. The car careened out of control off a nearby cliff. The fire destroyed most of the data. Zed was burned alive…


	14. Deploy

****

Erik

Jade and I came back to my house. Jade had been dismissed as an ambassador for the duration of her military service, meaning she didn't have anything to do for abut a week. When we pulled into the drive we noticed there was already a car there. The Secret Servicemen (and woman) perked up.

"It's ok guys, it's just Marco." I said. Marco was sitting on the dock watching Jade's younger sister and brother swim in the heated pool we… I had outdoors. When we stepped out Marco ran up and gave Jade a hug.

"Thank God your back, praise Santa Maria! Your sister is driving me _crazy_!" He said. "why didn't you _tell _me she just found out where babies come from. I didn't think an 11 year-old would know that kind of stuff. I was this close to just sitting her in front of the internet and letting her lose!"

"And Ryan, good God the kid won't even talk to me, I thought he was past the arrogant teen phase, and if Tina doesn't get off that damn cell phone I'm throwing in the river. My IQ dropped 20 points listening in on her." Jade was laughing aloud and I cracked a slight smile. Through her laughter Jade said.

"I didn't think you had 20 points to spare!" She said.

"Well we're not having kids if there gonna be like, opps, sorry Erik."

"It's ok," I said. "not like sterility is the major problem in my reproducing anyway." That came out glummer than I meant it. Phoebe who had been swimming in the pool with Ryan turned and saw Jade. She ran out of the water and gave Jade a hug. Dampning her pantsuit.

"Oh, sorry…" She said. Jade smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

"That's alright I hate these things anyway." Phoebe was a miniature Jade in all respects. She turned to me.

"Hey, Erik, Jade told me a lot about you, I'm sorry about your wife." She gave me a hug, I smiled.

"Thanks." I said. Jade turned to the man swimming in the pool.

"Hey Ryan!" She yelled. Ryan got out of the water and toweled off. He waked over and gave Jade a bear hug.

"Glad to see you sis," He said. Then turned to me. "Erik, I was one of Karen's biggest fans, I want you to know that, and I'm very sorry how this whole thing turned out." Jade then turned to a girl that looked like her only a little taller.

"Tina." The girl was talking into a cell phone, I focused in on the conversation.

"Oh my God, did she really wear that? She did, how could she! That dress was too small, but I guess that can be expected I mean she is such a…"

"Tina!" Jade said.

"Gotta go Jan talk later." Tina hung up and ran to give Jade a hug. "Jade sis I'm glad to see you, and I assume this must be Erik, hey there." She smiled and gave me a quick hug. Jade walked off with her family smiling. I heard an engine come coming into the driveway. It was from the hospital the man was carrying a box. He walked over to me, I knew what was coming.

"Mr. Bishop," He said. "I have the personal effects of your wife here, I am sorry they weren't returned earlier but they had to be documented for evidence." He handed me the box. "I'm sorry." He said and walked off.

"Insensitive prick!" Marco muttered. I opened the box. It was mostly the clothes Karen had on that day. Her jeans looked like they would if she had put them in her dresser. It the pocket was her wallet and some gum.

The shirt was another story. It was torn to shreds. The front of it was all but gone and the entire thing was soaked with blood. I fell to my knees but was able to compose myself. I walked over and threw the shirt in the trash.

I went back into the box. Next was a copy of her book _Restoring America_, and copy of mine _Love and War: The Story of Erik Bishop _, both were in a purse she carried with her., along with a .9mm pistol that I demanded she carry. I then found what I was sort of looking for it was a marble ring with a dimand on it and everal smaller ones carvered into the band.

I had similar ring on my finger. I took it off, I felt naked without it. I walked over to Jade who was joking with Phoebe. I tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around.

"Jade, I think I need to return these to you…" I said. Jade looked at them.

"Erik, no, now I can't take those back I gave them to…"

"You gave them to Karen and I, Karen's gone, I don't need these anymore."

"You will need them again, and much sooner than you think."

'Huh?" I said looking at Phoebe. Phoebe shook her head a little.

"Did I say something?" She asked.

"Never mind."

"Erik," Jade said. You hold on to these I insist, you need something to remind you of her." I took out a cigarette and lit it.

"I'd prefer not to be reminded of her so much." I said taking a puff.

"Erik…" Jade trailed off, I heard her mummer something in French that didn't sound flattering. I stuffed the rings in her back pocket.

"You can use them better than I can." I said. I went inside the house and into my office. On my desk were several papers, bills I was to sponsor and co-sponsor a century ago, back when my wife would help me approve them. On one side of the desk was a photo of Karen and I, they day we had a more formal wedding in Paris.

Karen was smiling her wonderful smile, she had her arms around my waist I had mine around her shoulder. There were photos of Jade and Marco's wedding and Tobias and Rachel's. There was an individual photo of Karen taken at Niagara Falls, the water splashing around her making seem even more angelic. I had the same photo in my wallet…

The other side were photos of the dead members of my team. Jerry the computer hacker, shot with a dracon beam. Amy our sniper, shot in the head. James my brother-in-law, cut his own throat. Anna, my sister, stabbed to death. There were also photos of me standing around in various areas of the destroyed town above the Yerk Pool, and a case full of my medals. I had the highest honor from each country in the world.

I sat at my desk and tried to think. I had likely come off as a little mad back there, but it was only because seeing Karen's stuff brought back to me in a box, well it brought everything home again. I took out another cigarette and lit it. After I finished it I decided it was time to repair the damage to my lungs. I closed my eyes and focused on the image of the cougar.

My legs reversed bringing instant and horrible pain. I fell to the ground and watched as my arms became legs and felt fangs growing in my mouth. My ears migrated up my head to the top and collapsed into a cougars ears. Soon I was a full cougar. I stayed that way for awhile, enjoying the calm feeling of power only slightly dampened by the fact that the cougar brain was nervous since it didn't know where it was.

I then reversed the changes. I realized I was naked, and I had ruined my new suit. Oh well… I changed into a Washington DC sweatshirt and put on some underwear and a pair of jeans. I sat back down in my office then I heard a knock.

"Come in." I said. I was expecting Jade but instead it was Ryan.

"What you want?" I said.

"Um sorry to disturb you but I need to ask you something."

"Yeah."

"I want to join you."

"What!" I was shocked to say the least.

"I'm coming with you." He said.

"The Hell you are your sister would kill me, besides you don't…"

"I got my mercenary license all I need to do is find a ship, and if you don't give me one then, I'll find another one."

"Ryan do you have any clue where we're going? This isn't going to be like the stories Jade told you, do you have a clue what the Gurwon war is…"

The Gurwon's were mainly a trading race. They mine special ores from their poles called _Kerntan _oil the was a rare liquid form of some element that had recently been discovered it was a used in shielding Z-space engines from overload due to the massive energy needed to make the tunnel. It could also be frozen and grounded into a powder to make a very powerful narcotic that rivaled morphine in effectiveness and addictiveness.

They are about human sized and are incredibly strong. For the most part they look human, except for the pale blue tone of their flesh and the fact that their average body temperature is the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Gurwons are also very skilled with weapons. They have the ability to go into a kind of trance that gives them the ability to aim incredibly well and dodge bullets (_Matrix _style).

Gurwon is a new front in the Yerk battle the Yerks have seized control of a certain group of Gurwons and made them into a rebel faction. Very few Gurwons even know that the Yerks are there on the planet. That made working with Gurwons a difficult process. Even with Kanondra detectors.

Gurwon was, for the most part, being fought like regular war. There was no clandestine organization fighting underground, no, the fighting was up close and personal. The Yerk force had secured a large portion of the planet, including most of the richer cites in the poles.

The loyalists, however, controlled all the landing zones. This made the exporting of the valuable _Kerntan _oils almost impossible and that hurt the treasury of the Yerk force. That's why most support from the ground sector of the space force, and marines traveling on the US spaceships were going to the landing zones.

From what the foreign forces already stationed in Gurwon said, Gurwon was mainly a jungle planet. It was 75 land with only one large inland ocean and several rivers that flowed into it. Most of the rivers were controlled by Yerks making supply runs to units that would soon be stationed along the rivers dangerous. However at the poles the temperature rarely rose above -83 F. It was snow and ice as far as the eye could see. The poles were the location of one of two mountain ranges in Gurwon.

Weather was the worst part. Storms routinely formed in the ocean and came across the rivers causing huge storms that could destroy a military encampment easily. The lightning in the storms in Gurwon was bright green and was more apt to hit people than earths lightning. When it wasn't raining the temperature could rise as high as 105 degrees.

Gurwon's sky was a bright pink and it's clouds were either dark black bright blue depending on whether they would bring light precipitation or a full blown storm respectively. It's air was remarkably similar to earths, however there were higher levels of Radon in the air than normal so all human forces had a radon neutralizer surgically implanted in their larynx. (I had mine put in the day Karen died. I guess I hoped the operation would fail and I would die.)

The Yerk force was fond all out attacks on bases doing it's best to overpower the defenders. Mostly it used heavily armed Gurwons but Hork-Baijar and Taxxons were not uncommon. The most commonly used weapon was the Tessan Ray a human invention so new it wasn't included on my ship. (I needed to get some installed.) It fired energy rays like a M-16 fired bullets. Of course there was still a place for the old fashioned guns…

Gurwon was truly a war zone. The war that I had been through was nothing compared to it, nothing! In one day more casualties had been sustained by a single unit than my team suffered the whole of the Yerk War. Of course there were more people present and hospitals for the wounded, but still it was bad news and whoever went there would never be the same again…

"I could care a whole lot less," Ryan said. "I want to get _rid_ of these fucking slugs, they killed my nephew…" that stopped me cold. I didn't know that Jade had told them about that… "So I'm going, I'm going to get back at these guys. Now you have a choice here: you can have me on your ship where you and my sister can keep an eye on me. Or I can go find another mercenary ship and we'll do it that way but I'm going to Gurwon. I just want a chance to fight alongside my sister." I sighed.

"Ok fine, you can come," I said. "Shuttle leaves next week, hangar 44 of Pope Air-force base. We leave at ten am on the dot if you're not there you don't come."

"I'll be there." He said. He walked out.

__

February 14th 2009

6:22 am EST

It was still hard waking up in the morning. I would reach over and instead of feeling the warmth of my dear Karen I would feel nothing. I got up and showered. Jade had left 4 days ago, she wasn't happy about her brother fighting but she didn't waste her breath fighting it though. Most of the past four days were spent lying up loose ends, updating my will, working on my aim, and making sure everyone who was coming could make the launch. I gave a few interviews to the news agencies about my intentions but for the most part I stayed at home.

I went downstairs and cooked a bacon and egg breakfast. I had a cigarette as I was waiting for the food to cook. Once the food was ready I grabbed a Mountain Dew from the refrigerator and ate. I turned in the radio I had in the kitchen. The news was mainly about the confirmed deaths of two Hook-Blade leaders. _Good _I thought.

Then I realized what day it was. Valentine's Day a blast of pain hit me but it was brief. Then I heard my wife's voice, I half expected to see her walking down the stiarway demanding to know why I was smoking at the dinner table.

Then I knew it was one of the tributes the station was paying her. It was one of her molouges that came from a girl who called saying she felt there were no deccent men around. The things she said about me made me cry again. I missed her so much… There was knock at the door.

I went over and saw Melissa Chapman standing there. Melissa was two heads shorter than me. She had joined the Marines soon after the end of the war. Melissa was one of the best Marines in the world. Her platoon was set to ship off for Gurwon soon. I wondered what she was doing here. I opened the door.

"Hey Erik," She said with a smile. "How are doing today?"

"I'm still breathin'." I said. Melissa and I had met when I was running for senate we had become fast friends, and she had helped me win after Jake tried to ruin things by running series of ads defending my actions. _All;s Fair in War _was the slogan.

"Yeah I guess so," She said. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner but I kinda got tied down."

"It's ok," I said. "I'm glad to see you, come in." I stepped back and she stepped in the room. She was wearing a Marines shirt and blue jeans. I offered her some of my meal but she said she had already eaten. She sat down across from me at the table.

"I heard you're going to war." She said.

"Yeah, I hope you're not here to talk me out of it. Because you can't."

"No, no… I just want to tell you to be careful. Most of my fellow freedom fighters don't like mercenaries. So you're gonna have a tough time getting any help from us."

"I expected as much." I said.

"Oh and I also came by to wish you a happy Valentine's day." She reached into her pocket purse and pulled out a small box of chocolates. "Not much I could do but…" I smiled.

"Thanks." I said.

"Look I need to go," She said. "Guess I'll be seeing you around."

"Bye." I said. She waked out and drove off. I watched her leave and wondered what was going on, there was no reason for her to see me in person because of that one detail. Was she… nah couldn't be…

__

February 16th

Cape Canaveral, Fl.

Teen minus 2:22:22

0920 hours

The General watched as his men loaded into the transport shuttle that would take them to the USSS George W. Bush. Along with his ground force he would have the companionship of the Marines. Not his best friends to say the least, since the Marines sympathized with Bishop big time.

The trek to Gurwon was a three month trip through Z-space. That would be a tough ride. The General had recently said goodbye to his wife. It was funny, anybody who heard his name or his brief reputation would not think he was married, or that he was trying to have a child. The General had been wanting to go to this battle he knew he was needed to stop the vile creatures that had taken the best years of his life.

There still was a part of him, however, that wanted to stop fighting, to stay at home and be a dad. That part of him was a small one, however, there were more important things in life. The General did regret his decision to kill Ms. Bishop overall, but he knew that he couldn't fight the war with out Mr. Bishop's help. Bishop, like it or not, was brilliant military mind, and a brave warrior he and his team would be one of the deciding factors in the war.

They _had _to be. The General knew that such a good warrior would help his efforts even if he wasn't directly in control. The General knew that if push came to shove in the war, then Bishop would be squarely on his side of the debate. The General doubted very much that he would have to use that plan but if he did he would need all the allies he could get. The General smiled to himself as he boarded the shuttle.

_If Bishop only knew…_ he thought. What? What would Bishop do? The General didn't want to think about that. He knew it wouldn't be pleasant though. As a percaution the General had seen to it that the man who killed Karen had been placed on one of the ships. The assignment he had given him was to take out a rival general, but the General never would tell him to go ahead with the hit. As he sat down in his chair and fixed the restraints one of his men was planting evidnce on Gurwon that would lead Erik right to him.

The General looked out the small window and watched as the nukes were loaded onto the ship…

__

Pope Air Force Base, NC

February 20th

1222 hours

Teen minus 0:08:11

We had already boarded the shuttle. It was roomy for a transport shuttle. While it wasn't as good as the transports aboard the _Anna-James _it was far better than a standard transport. The pilot of the shuttle spoke to us.

"You guys strapped in nice and tight back there." He asked in a crisp Texas accent.

"Well," Marco said. "I can't feel my legs, is that tight enough? Because I can still feel my arms." The man gave a dry "Ha!". I'm sure Jade would've slapped him if her arm wasn't securely strapped by her side.

"Seriously Erik, why couldn't we take Ian's fighter?" Marco whined.

"Because it's their _honeymoon _jackass," Jade said. "You don't want to begrudge them that do you?"

"No I don't but I also don't want to…" At that time the ship took off snapping out heads agisnt the bedlike seats we were in. "Could you warn me next time your going to that please."

"I did." The pilot said.

"You know he's right," I said. "pay attention next time."

"I'm flipping you off right now you know?" Marco said jokingly. The pilot was now undoubtedly wondering how we passed the psyche exam. I looked out the window, we were already well off the ground. I could barely see the outline of the air force base below us.

"Ok," The pilot said, we're almost out of the atmosphere…" suddenly the window turned bright orange and there was nothing visible then the darkness of space was visible. "Now we're going to max burn so Marco is it? You need to hold on to something. Hitting burn in 5...4...3...2...1... The ship lurched big time! I couldn't move at all.

"Sorry about this guys," the pilot said. "But this ship don't have any of those force suppressors." Force suppressors allowed humans to move around even when the ship was going at high speed. "The trip should be done in about an hour so make yourselves comfortable.

The trip was grueling. Having to stay in that position for that long really took it's toll. Soon though I saw the moon out the window.

"Okay we are about at the orbit you gave me, and… great day in the morning'" The captain first laid eyes on my ship. Seeing it for the first time must have been daunting. The sheer size of it was the first thing you would notice. It was barely able to fit into the field of vision and it's engines and weapons were impressive. The pilot went over to the radio and sent out a message.

"This is delta 4-8-2 requesting permission to dock." A woman's voice rang out.

"Hey ho Lt. Bain didn't know you were coming." it said.

"Yeah well Betty I did."

"It's colonel Betty now Lt. Permission granted." A computerized voice took over.

"docking hatch located preparing to dock." The tunnel emerged from the side of the _Anna James _it was a clear gold. Soon the tunnel had connected with the ship.

"Ok, guys you can get up." The restraints loosened and I stood up. I shook of the cramps and walked to the hatch. Ryan, who had been silent the entire flight popped his back loudly.

"Good God," He said. "That's something I don't want to experience again.  
I pressed a button on it and the hatch opened leading to the extended tunnel. We stepped through it and walked down the tunnel to the other hatch. Our footsteps were audible on the dark black floor. Outside we could see the bright white moon. We reached the end of the tunnel the hatch opened with a hiss. Standing there were five men and woman in various attire. The one in the middle spoke first.

"Good to see you Erik." The man was 33 and balding. He was tall and fit.

"Charlie this is Jade, Ryan and Marco, Jade, Marco, Ryan this is Charlie. He's in charge of security. This," I indicated a 23 year old girl with very long red hair and pale blue eyes. "Is Charlotte Baker she's in charge of training you'll be seeing quite a bit of her. This is Mason Phillmore," a short balding man with white hair gave a salute. "He's the main gunner. This," I indicated a tall thin dirty blonde haired man. "is Larry Feldman he's our radio man, and this" I pointed to a lanky bald black man. "Is Zeke Johnson, he's my co-captain."

"Glad to have you finally show up Erik, well guys welcome to the _Anna-James._


	15. The AnnaJames

****

Chapter by Lil Maniac

Jade

I think saying goodbye to my family was the worst part of leaving. Especially my mother. She practically _begged_ me to stay here. But I refused. I had to go. There was no other choice. I made sure everything was wrapped up before I left. The only problem I had was the problem of Ryan coming along.

Sure, I'd told him about war, but you don't really know until you see it yourself. Still, I didn't try to keep him here. He was a Harper; stubborn, determined... clinically insane... We boarded the shuttle, and after feeling like I was being shot straight up from a cannon for about an hour, we finally reached the _Anna-James_.

I was absolutely shocked at the incredible size of the thing, and wondered how he could have kept this monstrosity of a ship from public eye for so long. It looked even more incredible inside. "Welcome to the _Anna-James_" The guy named Zack or Seke or whatever said. But I was too busy gawking at the interior of the ship behind him. I guess Marco and Ryan were too.

"This makes a Changeling battle ship look like a toy!" I cried, and one of the men standing in front of us smiled.

"And let me guess, it's pretty hard to do that" Marco muttered.

"You got that damn right" I said. "

Would you like a tour?" Charlie asked.

"Is the damn pope catholic?" Ryan retorted, and I took a moment away from gawking to slap his arm and give him a death stare. Erik was a devout Cathloic and he may not take an insult like that well. He looked down at me, then made a zipping motion with his mouth and fingers. I turned back to Charlie and the rest of Erik's crew.

"Thank you, that would be. helpful" Charlie led us over to another transport ship, and I heard Marco groan. "We're not gonna be suck to the walls or anything, are we?" Erik laughed "No, no. I can assure you, this is a much smoother way of getting around" Marco gave him a fish eye. When we got inside, I realized that all but Erik, Charlie and the red-haired woman were with us.

The door shut. "So, where to first?" The pilot asked from his seat.

"Where to? Hmm, Marco? Jade? Where do you guys want to go?" Erik said.

"Bridge" Marco said, smiling at me "Always go to the best place"

"Whatever" I rolled my eyes at him. We sat down and found the ride was a lot smoother than the one up here. I could actually relax for once. We got there and piled out. Ryan looked a little annoyed, but other than that he stayed quiet. We got onto the bridge... and my mind was blown! It was massive! 

There was a second layer that you could see around the edges, up high, were people, and to my surprise, a few Chanaibens, were going about their business. Everyone on that bridge looked like they had something to do, and somewhere to go.

"Got to get it to a hundred-"

"Check the stats on the medical equipment, make sure we have enough to-"

"Loading ship docked. Preparing to unload food reserves-" Voices like these, and many others, drifted down and across to us. Something that looked a hell of a lot like a clear clipboard was given to Charlie, who checked it over and nodded.

The woman who looked no older than Ryan went on her way again. Beneath, were consoles and small view screens here and there. But what got me the most, was all this was housed in a gigantic dome.

Like I'd seen in the picture, but from this point of view it was even more amazing. "Wow" Ryan muttered, and I nodded.

"This, as you can tell, is the bridge. We'll be spending only as much time as we need here" Erik explained, looking suddenly grim.

"And the rest?"

"Well. training, sleeping, eating..."

"_Not_ committing suicide?" I asked bluntly. He smirked a little. "No, not that. At least not until I find out who killed Karen and... and return the favour" he smiled a dark smile.

"I hear that" Marco muttered. Erik led us back out, and we took the transport to the engine room, which was even more amazing. Although there were more people running, and what looked like crawlspaces being ducked into, and out of. Strange instruments that were unusually like what Ithiell had used once were being passed around.

A Chanaiben was hanging of a railing with her tail, fixing a panel just underneath. But our 'tour' wasn't over yet. The dining hall... the library... each was more spectacular than the last, and the trips there I could barely keep my eyes off what was going on just under us. Absolutely stunning.

Finally, we reached the massive docking bays. What I saw made my jaw drop. It also made me realise this was a much larger scale than the wars I'd fought before. Lowri's ship was a toy model compared to what treasures this baby held.

"This ship holds 400 fighters that can be manned manually or by robots" Charlie explained "The fighters themselves are called Amy, for our late sniper, units or A, with numbers ranging from 1 to 400, such as A-53" he pointed to a fighter not far from us "They fire Drajarashred weapons, and have minimal shielding"

He led us over to a different bunch of ships, which looked freakily like a Frisbee or like one of those old sci-fi movie toy models of spaceships. "These" Erik began "Are our repair ships. They are totally automatic and are deployed when the ship is damaged. They are called Jerry or J, in honor of my friend Jerry" He sighed, but managed to continue "There are about a hundred of these ships, and they work simular to the fighters. J-12 and so forth"

"Ah, very cool" Ryan muttered.

"Right, whatever" Marco muttered.

"Well, shall we go to the wings? I'll show you to your quarters" Charlotte said. We agreed, all of us still amazed at the sheer size of the ship, with only two of us really knowing what we were all getting into. As Marco and I stood outside loud speaker came on/

"Attention jumping to Z-space now."

"Might wanna hang on to something, this rig don't make jumps very well." Erik said. Grabbing onto the handle on the door of the shuttle.

"What do you mean?" I asked. _Whumph _with a lurch Marco and I were knocked to the ground. Erik chuckled.

"That" He said, and walked out.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

__

Aboard the Anna-James

__

April 22

1222 hours

The past two months had been gruelling on Ryan. Firstly, because he had never seen the white nothingness of Z-space, or in fact any kind of space up this close before. Secondly, because he seemed to be the one trained the most. He had learned to use several kinds firearms, the importance of complete stealth, certain tactics you needed to disarm and take down an enemy, and many, many more things he had never even thought of when he'd signed himself up as a mercenary.

His mother didn't like it, and his twin, Tina, didn't give a damn. His father was less pleased about it than anyone. Phoebe. well, Phoebe had always been a strange girl. She'd said something to him before he'd left, but he couldn't really remember it. As for Jade... Jade seemed to care less than his twin did.

Yet there was something else behind his older sister's eyes. She'd not only seen war, but she'd lived it. Twice. No, Jade was just hiding how she felt from him. Like she did everything. The only reason he'd found out he'd had a nephew was from raiding her room one day when she was late getting back for their family weekend together.

He'd found a journal, her journal, detailing the events from the day she first discovered she was pregnant. Then. his sisters loss... He never told her that he knew, but he suspected she knew that already. Or maybe he was just being dumb. When Ryan got two days off from his arduous training, he decided to explore the ship a little more. Everywhere he went, people who knew him would nod and call him 'Private Harper'.

Erik had made him that when he'd proved himself to the older man. Erik's past was in his eyes as well. Not to mention the scar that made him pity the man who was his superior. He finally decided to see his sister. He had barely seen her since the day they had boarded the ship, and wondered what she spent her time doing.

After questioning several people on the ship, and getting quite a few looks from the girls closer to his age, he found she was in the training room. When he finally found his way there again, he realized he'd walked in on something. Or, perhaps not. The two people in the center of the room didn't even seem to notice Ryan was there. Jade was in sweatpants and a dark blue singlet top. In her hands was a bo-staff. On the other side of the room, Ian was wearing something similar, holding his own staff out in front of him. Ryan noticed there was no program running, just them and a few mats on the floor around them.

Ian had docked his ship, the _Dreharr_ with the _Anna-James_ a month into the flight. (They were required by law to exit Z-space each month to make sure the engines didn't overload.) According to him, that was the name of his late father. Since his arrival, he, like Jade, had been very hard to find.

Not that he needed to find Ian anyway. The guy still creped him out for some reason. "Okay, three-two-one!" All of a sudden pounding music started up, making Ryan cover his ears. At the same time, he was riveted by their sudden movement. Ian swung the staff, but Jade caught it at an angle. Ryan was sure that if that blow had hit, it would have snapped Jade's leg in two.

They swung and dodged and cried out and Ryan couldn't help but watch, backing up into a wall in just in case. The fight suddenly became intense. Ian slammed the staff down like a sword, and Jade barely caught it on hers, placed sideways. The impact made her stumble. Ian raised the staff, ready to finish her off. He wasn't going to kill Jade, was he? Before Ryan could even think of crying out, Jade fell onto her back, then rolled backwards, slamming her palms down on the ground.

It gave her leverage, and she pushed up with her feet, catching Ian under the chin and knocking the staff out of his hands at the same time. The staff twisted through the air. The whole time Jade back flipped, landing on her feet, then crouching and catching the falling staff behind her back with her right hand. Ryan was amazed. He never knew his sister could do that! Ian smiled down at her, rubbing his jaw.

He said something, and the thudding music ceased. It was only then Ryan realised each of their movements were almost in sync with the music.

"Nice one Jade. Didn't expect that one"

"I could tell" she stood up, handing the staff back to him. She grabbed her own staff and gave it to him.

"We'll work on this again sometime. It seems the student has out-done the master this time" "Are you kidding me! You almost had me cold! If I hadn't-"

"That's a good lesson to pass on then" he said as he sat the staffs against a wall, then went and got two small hand towels, and Jade wiped her face with it.

"Uh-huh. Never spar with you unless you're human" Ian laughed

"Not quite, but then again, there's always a lesson to learn" he suddenly turned and looked at Ryan. Ryan tensed, then did even more so as the human Ian began to twist and change. Soon, he was his true self, and walked towards Ryan.

"Ryan, you still have a lot to learn" he said quietly, patting Ryan on the shoulder before leaving the room.

"What's up Ryan?" Jade asked, and before he knew it his sister was standing in front of him. He yelped and jumped back a little. Jade sighed.

"Never show the enemy you're scared. I thought you would have known that by now" She said, then turned and made him follow her to what looked like a sports bag. She pulled out a bottle of water, drinking some of it down quickly.

"What did Ian mean by lessons?"

"Everyone still has a lot to learn. Even him" she got up, turning to him "Want to try?" "Try what?"

"Sparring with me"

"Uh... okaaay" Jade went over and grabbed the bo-staffs, tossing one effortlessly to him. He barely caught it in time.

"Don't be afraid. Just react. Let your instincts take over" She said as they stood in the middle of the room.

"Um, okay?" "Computer, load program JD ten. Music... random" Suddenly they were standing in a very Chinese-looking training room. With the thin sliding doors on either side of them, and the small mats here and there. On the walls there were swords and spears and something that looked shockingly like a mace.

Then came a song he remembered hearing once. It was a Lash song, and one of Jade's favorites. Then she came at him, and he barely had time to think before she bought her staff down on him. He managed to block it, but barely.

"So, why aren't you training with Charlotte? I thought she was..." "Charlotte's a good teacher, but Ian's better. I doubt she's been knee deep in it like we have. Just like you" Jade backed off, swinging her staff around. "HEEYAA!"

Another near miss! Ryan managed to knock it away before it did any real damage.

"Say what!" He cried, turning his defense into an offence. He swung his staff like a baseball, not surprised when she knocked it away, back flipping as he came at her again and tried to get her leg.

"Lesson one Ryan! Never just attack! Wait for your opponent to move first!" All of a sudden she made a sweeping motion, knocking Ryan off his feet. He rolled just as she slammed the butt of the staff down where he'd been seconds before. He tried to do what she'd done to him, but she managed to jump and roll forward to avoid it. He was suddenly hit in the back of the head, crying out.

"Lesson two, never underestimate your opponent!" She snapped over the music, and Ryan struggled to get up, the back of his head pounding. He faced her, and realized she seemed different than the sister he'd known. The anger in her eyes... He faked a move, then swung his weapon in an arch, which would've connected with her neck if she had been there a few seconds longer.

But she wasn't, and seconds later he fell flat on his face.

"Owww!"

"Lesson three, keep your eyes directly on your opponent. And if you can't see them, don't look around stupidly, _listen_ carefully and you'll hear them moving"

"Jade! That hurt!" He rolled onto his back, looking up at her. He was sure she'd just broken his nose! Suddenly she was crouched over him, staff resting on one side of his head. She leaned in close. Her eyes were ablaze and her face was full of fury.

"Ryan, that is a _pinprick_ to what could happen to you in this war. And your enemy isn't going to be as _nice_ as I've been" "Nice? I don't think-" "Ryan, listen to me carefully. You don't know a damn _thing_ about war until the shit hits the fan, and your running for you life, knowing there's a fucking big chance you won't make it out alive. _That's_ war. Not some fucking hero act. It's real, it's terrifying, and if I knew your were going to become a mercenary I would have warded you off months ago"

"I want to fight beside you. I don't care-" he stopped when she got up, pulling a dagger from under the bottom of her track pants. He remembered that dagger. It was the one his cousin Nick had hand painted a green Chinese dragon on the blade for Jade when she'd asked for it.

"Holy!" Ryan scrambled up, having horrible thoughts of Jade stabbing him with the damn thing. Instead, he watched in horror as she drew the blade across the palm of her hand, holding it out to show him as the blood began to seep out, dripping onto the floor. "Jade! Omigod!" He began to run to her, but she shook her head.

"Do you see this Ryce? This is a paper cut to me. I can barely feel it anymore" She said sadly, then grabbed her bag with that exact hand, walking to the door and turning of the music and the program. It was only then that he saw the tall figure beside the door.

Before Jade left she turned to him, then back to Ryan, and said, "Ian has a proposition for you. It's up to you whether you take it or not. If you do, go find him" She left, and the man beside the door, Erik, walked up to him.

"Well, that was a stunning display"

"Yeah. If you like seeing your sister go postal on you" Ryan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why'd she call you Ryce for?"

"Old nickname. She only uses it when she's really upset with me, or I scare the living hell out of her" Ryan said, smiling a little at the memory.

"Ah. Well, nice to know" he suddenly turned serious "Ryan, I need to talk to you" "About?" "I have a job for you" he told Ryan about the mission, and Ryan didn't know whether to be happy or afraid. "But... does Jade..."

"I told her yesterday. That's probably why she went crazy on you just then" Ryan frowned. It was going to be tough.

"I'll do it"

"Good. Now, I think we might need to change your training tactics. I might need to give you that little extra training. Can you handle that?"

"Not a problem" A few days later he saw Jade again. She was with Marco, talking in the hallways. When they hugged, Ryan saw a tear falling down her cheek. It was strange, how two completely different people could be in one body. It was then that he realised he really _didn't_ know anything about war. And that thought scared him even more than seeing the animal fury in Jade's eyes just days before.


	16. New war new training

****

Erik

__

Aboard the Ann-James

__

April 25th 2009

1021 hours

"Jade," I said trying to catch up with her as she was heading to her cabin. It had been hard to find her recently and the ship was an easy one to hide on. "I need to talk to you." She stopped.

"What about?" She asked.

"I wanted to tell you when you had your spat with Ryan but I want you stop bare skin sparing. I don't want anyone in the medical room because you whooped their ass with a big stick. Please use the holo coats." Holo Coats were a new invention they allowed one to be totally immersed in a VR situation, including pain. They also created weapons in the training room so you could fight with a sword and not injure someone.

"I hate those things," She said. "They don't feel right."

"Yeah well," I said. "they cost the Hork-Baijar Taxxon alliance 300 million dollars so I think we should use them, besides there is very little hand-to-hand combat in war, it's all guns now, which reminds me, you need to spend more time training with large arms we have about a month till we get to Gurwon and I want everyone here proficient."  
"Look Erik, it just doesn't feel right training like this I still want to use the covert ops, approach."

"I know, I know, I feel that way to, but Jade, it's a different war and we have to fight it in a different way." I looked into her eyes and realized she was scared I didn't blame her I smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, just lay off kicking your brother's ass until after the war's over…"

"Speaking of Ryan," Jade said. "What do you have planned for him I overheard him talking with Charlotte?"

"Oh, that," I said. "I got a message a while ago, I'll be given control of about 500 troops, mercenary troops, or to be more precise, rejects from the Marine Corps. I want him to serve with them, I'll have him in your platoon so you can keep an eye on him, he has a real talent for it Jade."

"Are you kidding? He knows nothing about war and…"

"Nor did Stonewall Jackson before he fought but he had a talent for it and it showed when he was in combat. You know you really shouldn't underestimate your brother Jade."

"Yeah well I'll do that when be proves himself in combat, because no matter what you say 'general' you know as well as I do that those holograms are nothing compared to real combat."

"They're as close as we can get Jade, and they do an OK job, at least Ryan won't have some kind of battle shock."

"Everyone has battle shock Erik." Jade said and walked away.

__

Ebortron Mining Complex, Polar Region, Gurwon

May 1st 2009

2321 hours

****

Erik

I was standing on the catwalk that wrapped around the large hole that was dug into Gurwon crust for the ores. Ordinarily there would be a huge hollow tube in the hole that the catwalk surrounded; the tube would be used to draw up the _Kerntan _oil. Now however the tube was gone and I could feel the cold radiating up from the -900 degree liquid at the bottom of the tunnel. I reached into my backpack and pulled out the bomb. By dropping the bomb into the oil I would cause a chain reaction that would cause every single mining complex to go up in flames it would effectively destroy the Yerks. I made to throw it in.

"Not so fast _Ere._" Ryan said emerging from the elevator. I looked over at him.

"You're the last person I'd think would turn over to the Yerks." I said to him unclipping the holster on my pistol. Ryan smiled.

"They had the best to offer general: power, money and protection for my sisters."

"If you believed that then you are dumber than I thought." I said walking towards him.

"Maybe so," He said. "But…" I ran and made up the distance between us instantly. Before he could react I tripped him and threw him over the railing. He screamed all the way down and I literally heard his body turn to ice.

__

Aboard the Anna-James

"Simulation over," the voice of a female said. "Erik wins. Score: Erik: 1 kill, Ryan 0 kills."

"What the fuck is wrong with you dumb-ass?" Charlotte yelled running over to where Ryan was laying spread eagled on the floor of the training room. Ryan who was groaning in pain flipped her off. Charlotte returned the favor.

"Do you know what did wrong there private?" I asked trying to be a little nice although I was pissed at him too.

"This isn't a fucking bond movie?" he asked.

"Precisely," I said. "You should have shot me the second you could see me. If that had been the real thing you're balls would be solid ice right now."

"Yeah but I'd never turn to the Yerks…"

"That is irrelevant" Charlotte said. "If you have a problem with my programs then you can fuck off, these scenarios train you on your key weaknesses yours, Ryan, is that you are too hesitant to attack first. You have to get rid of this habit we have a week or two until we reach Gurwon and then you'll be thrown headfirst into battle. Ryan it's my job to make sure you are ready for anything and everything you may experience. There's no training mandatory for mercenaries before you get your license but if you want to stay on this ship and on this unit you will take my lessons. Now get out of my site." She stormed out, I followed her I caught up to her at the shuttle system entrance and stepped onto the shuttle with her.

"Calm down Charlotte he's not complaining about the programs." There was lurch as the shuttle started toward the bridge.

"Erik, I don't care you have put me in charge of deciding if Ryan is capable of and I will not place him in a combat situation unless he passes these combat tests."

"I understand your frustration but you need to give the kid a break I mean until a few months ago he was a normal teenager."

"_The Yerks are not going to give him a break and nor are the Gurwons_!" Charlotte had turned red and punched the wall, not a smart move considering it was a carbon-platinum alloy. She shook her hand in pain.

"Ok," I said. "I'll have him training with you all of next week, you get him in shape OK?"

"Can be done General." The shuttle stopped and I stepped out onto the bridge. As Captain my post was set on the raised section of the bridge. At my counsel were various buttons that controlled, among other things, shift assignment, cabin locks, and cabin conditions, training room override, weapons activation and security. My chair was made of the hide of the Nurfbut a mink-like animal from the Taxxon home-world. Its skin was soft but not so soft as to put it's patron into a sleep. I accessed the intercom

"Attention this is Captain Bishop; we are preparing to exit Z-space for routine inspection at the fourth moon of Zumin. All non-bridgemen are to report to quarters for the duration. All bridgemen please report to their stations on the bridge." I waited for a few minutes and the others arrived. Ian, Jade, Marco, and Jade all took their seats in the bottom area of the bridge. This was the post that all sergeants had, if this ship were carrying more soldiers then the sergeants would have access to information on them.

"Captain preparing to drop out of Z-space ETA of arrival is three hours after exit give or take." Zeke said. Even though Z-space travel was much better now it was still hard to pinpoint the exact point that where one would emerge from Z-space. New technology had made it possible to make the jumps and exits within a few hours travel time. One of the drawbacks however was that it required bigger engines and that meant that dropping out of Z-space was much more difficult than going into Z-space.

"Ok," I said. I picked up the intercom. "Engine Control!"

"Sir Yes Sir?" Isaac Crenshaw the head engine technician said.

"Decrease power to Z-space engines on my mark, 3, 2, 1 MARK!" There was a noticeable slow in our movement and the pale whiteness of Z space stopped passing by so quickly. "Report." I said.

"Z-space engines on low preparing to access regular space engines." Isaac said.

"On my mark, 3, 2, 1, MARK". The part of my counsel that watched the engines reported that the regular space engines were on. "Drop Z-space engines on my mark. 3, 2, 1 MARK!" Z-Space totally disappeared replaced by the star filled settings of deep space. "Navigation Chart Access." I said. A hologram of this area of space appeared. Our position was lit up with a green outline. The map became 3-D and showed the nearest planet system as well as nearby stars and other space-type obstacles. Looking at our position we were about two hours from the planet.

Feldman looked up from his console.

"Captain we're getting a transmission from a nearby ship."

"What's its ID signature?" I asked. Larry typed on his counsel.

"It's not sending one… oh shit brace your selves." I saw a large red object from the corner of my eye. Then the ship rocked violently. I sprung into action.

"Shields at maximum, Phillmore get the turrets up, Isaac stop forward motion, and have all fighter pilots on standby. Somebody locate the fucking ship!" There was a slight uproar as Mason ran around to turret stations and got them online. I pressed a button on my counsel and retrieved the visor that dropped. I put it on and a targeting reticule appeared and I took sliver ball in my hand when I moved it the reticule moved. I Soon saw a ship in my sites, it was a freighter ship. A Gurwon freighter ship.


	17. Space Combat

****

Erik

"Why's a freighter ship firing on us?" Jade asked.

"I have no clue," Someone said. "There's no way hostile freighters would fire on us they know they'd be destroyed." That got me alert. Another rocket hit us.

"Ian, see if you can find other ships," I squeezed the ball and one of the turrets fired, the shots missed. "And everyone who has a turret visor put the fucking thing on and shoot! This thing has armor like a knight of the round table. I tried to fire other shots a few hit but glanced off the armor on the ship." I took off the visor. "Put the turrets on auto-fire." I heard a hum then. _Twaaaaaaan Twaaaaan Twaaaaan _the Drajarashred turrets began to fire but they still glanced off the armor. Another hit.

"Oh nuts!" Ian said. "Z-space radar shows two blade ships incoming, we need to get out of here now."

"Max burn captain?" Isaac asked.

"We can't go to max burn right now, we'd run right into the freighter, we need to destroy this thing before they get here. Access the armor laser, cease turrets, and deploy drone fighters!" I saw several of the fighters launching from the sides of the ship they began to fire on the ship. The rockets stopped coming. And the freighter turned on the fighters. "Get the things to attack the engines and the docking hatch; we need to get through that armor.

"Armor laser charged at 10 cap" A Changeling said. If we could get the armor laser online we beat this thing without much difficulty.

"Blade ships will be onsite in ten minutes." Ian said.

"Laser charged 68."

"Enemy ship raising turrets." Tssewww tsseeew two red beams hit the bridge window, they gleaned off. Four other shots hit other sections (I'd later find out the resulting tremors interrupted a make-out session between Ryan and some girl.)

"Nasty hit there shield loss 10."

"88"

"All drones are down rocket incoming." Another shattering explosion I saw Jade stumble out of the corner of my eye.

"90"

"5 minutes till blade ships are onsite." Another hit.

"We take many more of those we'll lose the dorm shielding and, thanks to the lockdown half our crew."

"Shut up Zeke now's not the time."

"99, 100" I smiled.

"Ok now boys turn on the armor cutter and show those faggots what this thing can really do." A dark blue light shot out from under the ship and hit the freighter. You could see the dark black armor peeling away. "Fire all turrets full power!" Blasts of orange white hit the weak spot and the ship exploded.

"Whooooooooooooooo weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" Mason yelled.

"Ok, Isaac, Max burn, grab onto something." The ship bucked and we shot off missing the blade ships by two minutes.

__

Gurwon Orbital Space

May 22nd 2009

0123 hours

I sat on the bridge command chair. It had been a tough few weeks. We had passed the routine inspection and reentered Z-Space. I had spent the rest of the time training Ryan, I finally got him up to the standard Charlotte wanted and assigned him to Jade's platoon. I looked out the window. We were at the Gurwon moon _Estar _we were approaching from the dark side of the moon at the corner of the night and day line I saw a large ship it was at least half the size of my own. As we got closer more ships came into our line of sight most were standard bar-shaped ships, there were also several repair ships floating here and about.

There were also some ships that looked like the air-planes you threw in history class. They had a red tip and a dark blue body I knew that those ships were programmed to run into any unauthorized ships, delivering the 9 kiloton nuclear payload which was confined to the attacked ship by some kind of alloy hat the body of the bomb was made of. When we were almost at the moon I was startled out of what I realized was a daze.

"Sir!" Feldman said. "You have a transmission from the Gurwon Space force, put him through?"

"Go ahead." I said. An image appeared, like the radar, in front of me. It was shimmering slightly and showed a man with pale blue skin and deep socket blue eyes. When he spoke he spoke with a low raspy voice that was slightly unnerving.

"This is head of Gurwon Space Security Talder Mornphed, please ID yourselves." The voice said.

"This is mercenary vessel _Anna-James _captained by Merc-General Erik Cortez Bishop and Merc-Major-General Zeke Johnson, requesting permission to enter orbital space and dispatch docking system." The Gurwon could be seen pressing buttons on the computer (that I couldn't see since the hologram only showed the body of the Gurwon.)

"Ok, I've got your ID transmission; ok your ship is too big for any of the landing bays so I'm going to assign you some orbital space. I'm uploading them to your navigation system now do you have your own shuttles or do you need us to send one?"

"We have our own."

"Ok then here's the landing signature for the shuttles you use your landing zone is the main space port in Neranta we await your arrival." I sent out messages to all of the crew that was to accompany me. Marco and Jade arrived first, both obviously tired.

"Geez Erik," Marco said. "Did you have to wake us up so early?"

"Pretty much yeah." I said. Ian and Amanda arrived. After a few minutes Ryan and the few others who were coming with us arrived. I stood up from my chair and faced them.

"Ladies and gentle men in about two hours we will be in our orbital path of Gurwon, we will deploy a shuttle from there on a 30 minute flight to the main port city of Neranta, and we will stay there until we kind find out how we're needed. Any questions."

"Yes," Ryan said. "When do officially become a member of you army or platoon or whatever?"

"Once we touch down you will be under the command of Sergeant Rodriguez."

"Marco?"

"No, Marco is a Major, Jade's your boss."

"What!"

"No time t discuss this everyone to your posts."

"Gurwons in view captain." Zeke said. I looked out the domed window. And gasped.

Gurwon was about half the size of the earth from space I could see the blue and black wisps of clouds over the many landforms. Almost all of it was the deep green of a jungle. A few places broke off into rocky dessert. I then saw the sea. It was a bright pink (possibly a reflection of the sky. And spanned an area that was likely about the size of Australia.

Since the jungles was so think the many cites could easily be seen, giant tears in the green. Looking at some of the clouds I realized that a few of them were bright blue it looked like part of the sky on Earth was there. Then I saw a flash of green light and realized they were storm clouds.

My eyes then fell on the poles. I saw that before the poles there were huge deserts that made a ring around the poles the deserts had a few mesas that were visible from my position and I knew that more would be visible if I ever had to go there. The poles were bright white I noticed the north on contained mountains. The mountains were almost covered in snow but I could see stretches of the dark yellow Gurwon rock here and there.

The sun that bathed Gurwon was much like our own but a lot smaller the sun was roughly the size of Jupiter.

"That's incredible." Jade said.

"I know…" Marco said.

"That's what we're fighting to save," I said. "You remember this moment if you ever feel like your losing your will to battle. Let's prep the shuttle…"

__

Cenchana Café, Epitar City, Trylor Jungle Region, Gurwon

Mike sat at the café smoking a cigar. There was some kind of Gurwon rock band playing the background. He air was thick with pale blue smoke from some kind of Gurwon drug. Mike hadn't heard from The General in days. He was beginning to think that The General had put him on this mission to keep him from squealing.

He wanted proof of it before he went through with his plan though. He was waiting for some of that proof now. A storm was raging outside and green lightning illuminated the pink sky every few minutes. Mike was still getting used to the strangeness of the planet. Its pink skies its blue clouds and its humid atmosphere.

He felt the radon filter installed in his throat and thought _I shouldn't be here_. He realized that it was more than just Gurwon where he shouldn't be. He knew he should never have become a hit man. The eyes of his last target… of Karen had shown that to him. He took a photo from his wallet.

The photo was of his sister, Reba. She looked a lot like Karen except she had brown hair. Her eyes were exactly like Karen's. Reba had been stabbed to death. She was coming home from a church session in the section that her and his family lived in in Harlem, when two punks stepped in front of her and tried to rape her.

Reba had always been stubborn and she refused to comply. They had stabbed and forced into a car letting her bleed out, when she was too weak to fight they raped her, and then dumped her body in the gutter. Mike had found the body when he was out with his friends. He had been 14 then. He remembered what he had done when he saw her. He had walked across the street and over to a pawn shop.

The owner there was crooked and sold him a handgun. Mike had noticed that the rapists had carved their initials in Reba's right breast, and a gang symbol in her left one. He knew the gang symbol and who the initials belonged to. That night he went to the two men's house. They had been out, likely getting another victim. He broke in and waited.

Sure enough they came back with a screaming girl that looked to be only 13. When they walked in they tried to rip off the girls clothes, but before they could one of them noticed Mike sitting there in an easy chair. One of them had looked at him

"What the fuck?" Mike shot him in the crotch, the other man tried to run but Mike got him in the back. The girl ran and Mike walked out with the gun still in his hand. He didn't get caught; somehow, a rival gang somehow found out what he had done and recruited him to do hits.

He found out he had a natural talent for his craft and soon his reputation had spread across the underworld of New York. He made enough money off his hits to move his mother and father out of their dungeon. He continued to do hits after he and his family moved to the East Side and became rich. After he graduated from high school he dove into the world of contract killing he had worked for numerous Mafia crime families, as well as a few fringe militia groups.

He began working with a partner about a year before he was hired by The General, working with a partner had made him far more deadly. He guessed he had about eighty kills on record and countless others that may have come as a result of his He had always been killing for Reba and after he killed Karen he realized that maybe what he was doing wasn't helping Reba, he realized now more than ever that no matter who he killed he would never get her back.

The door to the bar opened and his contact walked in. The contact sat down a few seats away then talked to the bartender. The bartender smiled and walked over to Mike. The Gurwon was a female and had a Gurwon accent on her English it made her shorten the words and add emphasis on the last syllable. Also like other Gurwon woman she had three breasts.

"Sir the man over there has bought you a sandwich." She said and placed it in front of him. He took off the top of it and found a round disk. He put it in his pocket then placed 500 Nurpots, or Gurwon dollars in it. He told the bartender to send it back to him. He then left the bar and went to his small apartment nearby. He sat down at his laptop and inserted the disk, a hologram came up.

Lt. Hightower took the money from the sandwich. He was surprised how little guilt he felt about betraying The General, but then again his dad had been a Marine, maybe the Marine in him felt remorse for Bishop. He had been working to undermine The General for a long time however. He had even snuck as much information as he could without getting caught to his buddy Chip.

His efforts were in vain though, the hit had gone through, and now Hightower only hoped he could redeem himself. He left the bar and headed towards his transportation for this planet: an a-grav scooter, it was good machine, you stood on it and it floated wherever you wanted to go. Most of the small Gurwon villages required you these instead of the Hummers he liked to use.

There was a small whine from the engines but otherwise it was silent. Suddenly he felt himself be pulled from the scooter and felt a rag held against his head. He got a whiff of chloroform and then he felt nothing.

"Wake up Lt." Hightower came too slowly and began to take in his surroundings. He realized he was in a room, the room was dank and gloomy and it smelled awful. The only light came one bare bulb in the middle of the room. He tried to move his legs but then he realized he was tied to a chair. He looked further and saw… The General, he was sitting down next to a Gurwon, he was wearing camouflage holding a curved knife.

"Lieutenant, I'm surprised at you, why would you turn on me like this. I trust you with all the important jobs here and you repay me like this." Hightower looked into The Generals eyes and immediately regretted it. His eyes were devoid of any emotion. He had never starred the General directly in the eyes. The General preferred to meet in dark rooms.

He had seen eyes slightly like that before. The one time he saw Senator Bishop in person he saw a trace of that coldness, but it wasn't anything like this, nothing like this… _the horror… the horror _Conrad's words came to his mind and when The General gave a sick smile he realized he had said it aloud.

"Don't think that quoting that boring book will defer me from my goal Hightower, although I would have to say that Mr. Kurtz and I would get along very well." Hightower had been convinced a long time ago that The General had been driven insane by something in the wars. "Now Lt. I think that you don't really know how much damage you've done so I'll tell you, none, you may have some information on me but I can assure you that whatever it is it won't help him find me, I am careful to make that the people who know who I am either work for me, or are dead, and since you no longer work for me, well I think it's time you well, died." Hightower shuddered as The General walked towards him with the knife.

"You know," The General said. "Our Gurwon hosts here still practice a form of execution called _Jisform _in it the offender is cut open and his colon drug out of his body then it is wrapped around the neck and used to strangle them. Now of course pain may cause the victim to pass out, so to make sure you don't miss out on all this great fun I've placed an implant in your head this implant will keep you alert throughout the process, so without further ado…" The General jammed the knife into Hightower's belly the pain was blinding as his stomach acid began to spill into his body, he felt it as his skin was corroded The General was digging, digging, pain! Hightower knew he was screaming and he didn't care, he begged for mercy, he began to call out profanities and also, for the first time in years, God's name.

"You are a fool, I am God to you, fucking WASP… lets see where that colon…is" Blood was flowing freely from the wound getting all over The General's face and hands. Hightower could feel the sharp object slicing through him. "Ahh there it is." The hole that The General had made widened as Hightower saw his own colon dragged out of his body. The General took the colon and wrapped it around Hightower's neck as his brain shut down from lack of air Hightower heard the Generals last words to him.

"Mista Higtowa he ded"

Mike saw a hologram appear a man he had never seen before in his life was there, it was likely that this was The General the hologram went on pause as it loaded. His phone rang; he went over and picked it up.

"Hello." He said. The voice was one of the many voices of The Generals contacts.

"Mike, glad to see you made it in all right." Mike was afraid that this call wasn't good news.

"Yeah what are you calling about?"  
"Mike, Mike, Mike, I think you know the answer to that question. You see you are not as secure here as you think. You informant is now lying in the basement of that bar with his bowels wrapped around his neck!" Mike's heart began to pound. "You know Mike it was a shame, a very big shame that this had to happen, you know, if only you had behaved until the end of the war but no… you wanted more and more. Now Mr. Stevens you will die. On the first floor in a room recently rented by an unknown person there were three briefcases, each one was filled with ten pounds of TNT, except one that was filled with the pollen of a _Noramana _flower this pollen made fire 50 times more powerful.

Outside the apartment a man pressed a button on his cell phone and ran off. Each suitcase went off at the same time, taking out the foundation of the building and causing it to collapse. Four stories up Mike Stevens leaped from his balcony the intense flames catching and entirely incinerating his right foot…

__

Neranta Spaceport, Egan Costal Section, Gurwon

****

Erik

Our shuttle landed in the docking bay. The shuttle was a nice one; it was a first class model and just as good as most regular ships. As the bay doors closed above us I saw a Marine in full dress approach the door. The door opened and we stepped outside. The air was dry and the heat was incredible, I began to sweat instantly. The Marine approached us.

"Greetings sir, I am glad to see that you arrived in one piece. I'll give you an update sir, since you left things have gone bad for the Loyalists sir, the rebels have shot down a large amount of loyalists planes sir, most of these areas are now bombed regularly be enemy forces. Defenses are holding to an extent but most of the higher-ups are certain that an invasion of these area's are imminent. As such the Gurwon Circle of Elders has asked that you remain here with your platoon, although you are not required to do so. As you know you have free reign as a mercenary so long as you do not attack America or her allied forces. As I said things are getting much worse here, recently the rebels have resorted to terrorism so keep your eyes open. Welcome to Gurwon…"


	18. The General Strikes Again

****

Chapter by Lil-Maniac

__

Eight days earlier

****

Robert

My name is Robert Kessely. And for over half my life I've been fighting evil invading aliens. Kind of sucks when you think about it. It's even worse when you're stuck at home doing squat while a war rages on another planet. Thankfully, that wasn't going to be the case for much longer.

"Men, sound off!"

"Sir! Private First class Lenny Davis, Heavy gunner, sir!"

"Sir! First Lieutenant Jacob Moore, Grenader, sir!"

"Sir, Private Second class Kyle Fitzgerald, communications expert, sir!" And the list when on and on until they were done. I didn't really notice. All I wanted was to get going. Thankfully, after forever, we were finally let on to my little cruiser, which was stationed on Jake's ship, _George. W. Bush_ or something like that. After months on this ship, and my digging getting me no-where, Jake finally gave me a few men and a small ship to go down to the Gurwon planet ahead of them.

I hadn't told them of my little, investigation, so all he knew was I wanted to go down and fight sooner. The reason I didn't tell him? Because he was on my list of my many suspects. And partly because I didn't want him 'hinting' to any of the other generals what was going on. Especially that dick for a general, Barker.

He was the reason I almost didn't make it into the military. Told people I was too much of a 'loose cannon' and I wasn't to be trusted. I proved him, and lots of others, wrong. So, if General Barker got in my way of this, I'd personally give him a reason to think otherwise. We boarded the changeling cruiser (the only one they could spare) and departed from the battle ship.

I found that my new crew worked remarkably well together.

"Sir, we will reach the planet in approximately three hours" One of my lieutenants said, coming to stand beside me. He was in his late thirties, at least, but didn't look much older than I was. And he was built like a brick. A lot like Fred, in some ways. I almost wished Fred could have come with us. At least I knew I could trust him.

"All right. Keep to your posts men. Until then, I'll be in my quarters" I told them, watching as the cruiser picked up speed, passing the battle ship with relative ease. I felt the engines give a kick, and we shot past Jake's ship, then sped away into the white nothingness of Z-space. You had to hand it to those Changelings. They certainly knew how to make a hell of a ship.

I made my way into my quarters, sitting down at the small desk and pulling out the papers I'd had stashed behind the bed. I went thought them again, finding I could rule out one more General. General Harklen. She had retired, and was back on Earth with her young daughters. I tore up the file on her and kept looking though my notes. I was eager to get on that planet, and start _really_ digging. I'd have to be discreet, and try not to attract to much attention to what I was doing, but I believed I'd find out who had shot Karen, and tried to kill Jade as well. And when I did, I'd hand him right over to Erik.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

__

May 26th 2009

Well, the past few days hadn't been pretty. I managed to get Kyle and the only girl in my squadron, Sarah someone, in on it too. They managed to infiltrate the lower ranks, asking discreet questions that no one would have paid any attention too. My own work wasn't going very well. Since I was higher up, I had to be more careful about what I said to people.

I ruled out about two more Generals serving in the Gurwon war, but that still left about six or seven. And I didn't have a much time as I'd liked, with it being a _war_ and all. They'd tried to take over a small encampment posted far north, but we managed to knock them back for a little longer. (I had been lucky not to have been onsite during the "polar push" or whatever it was. The men who I talked to about it said it was horrible.)

The encampments themselves were nothing but a whole lot of tents with minimal shielding to protect us from the horrid wind and storm conditions that plagued the planet. I kept in contact with Erik via some kind of hologram technology that Becky, who was out on some mission, gave me.

I'm sure it hurt him more than it showed. It was that which kept me digging. Sarah managed to drag up some new information on our wonderful Generals. I immediately cut out the information on Erik. "But sir, Bishop is a-"

"He's also her husband. And I doubt he'd get someone to shoot his wife" I replied coldly "I know Bishop, and he loved her too much to do something as idiotic as that"

"But sir!"

"Now you can either get out and never talk to me again, or you can keep digging, got it" Sarah swallowed, looking at me. She was probably a little older than me, but she didn't seem like it. I was amazed she even joined the military. She looked into my eyes, nodding.

"Yessir! I'll do all I can, sir!" she left, her hair bobbing slightly as she saluted and left the tent I was in. I looked at the information again. There goes General Amaan. And a few of his high ranking lieutenants. Someone had also spread around some cheap story on how Sergeant Rodriguez was jealous and had Karen killed.

Like Jade would! They obviously never got the full story. I was getting frustrated, wishing there was a wall around so I could destroy it when I got a breakthrough. Something I'd run over about fifty times. It was a military invoice for a special type of pistol for 'training sessions'. I noticed the pistol was the same kind that shot Karen. I blinked and looked again at the authorization. It was then that Kyle returned.

"Kyle, what do you know about this guy?" I asked, handing the paper to him and pointing to the name. "Him? Well, not much. He's hard to get info on, although I have heard some stories about him"

"Such as?"

"Permission to speak privately?"

"Granted."

"Such as he's paid unauthorized people to get rid off Yerk sympathizers, and to track down any one with a Yerk in their head and kill them straight out. He also pays to... keep people quiet"

"Really? I didn't think he'd be the one to do something like that. I mean sure, he's a little shitty about the war and stuff, but..."

"You want me to investagate sir?"

"No, no if you got caught snooping around him he'd toss you in the Gulag, I'll take care of it"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

My suspect wasn't in his tent, which was good for me, I didn't want to confront him until I had definite proof. I checked around his room trying to find anything else that would point to him. Searching through his belongings didn't turn up anything, I wasn't expecting it to. I went to his laptop. The it was password protected but I bypassed it easily with a disk that Jerry, one Glass Dagger's late members, had created.

The disk bypassed the monitor password. On the desktop were the usual my computer and my documents icons. I then noticed another icon it wasn't labeled which made me suspicious I clicked on it and had to override two more passwords. What I came up on stopped my heart, this man put too much faith in his passwords.

I saw documentation on everything Karen did. It had her vitals down to her cup size. There was information on her daily habits, even a list of people authorized by the secret service to see her. Then I saw the pictures, most were mainly of her walking around DC and her home. A few were more graphic, including one, taken by what must have been a hidden camera, of her coming out of the shower. As part of my training, thanks to Barker, I had to work with a few alien corps. I had met a few assassins from various races. I had been told that it was common for some of the hard core hit men to demand this kind of information. They wanted to immerse themselves in combat, learn everything about them, it made the kill easier.

I continued to scroll through the information more photos, her private cell phone number. A map, of her route on her book tour. I noticed the map had been marked, the guy had been following her for a long time if every mark I saw meant the killer had been there. I still needed one more thing, something to decisively connect my suspect and The General. As if the computer heard my thought the next that came up was proof. It was a holographic recording. When I played it to images came up. One was of a legendary hit-man Mike Stevens and the other was of Lt. Hightower, the recently departed right hand man of The General AKA…

"Good Robert, very good, now be a good boy and forget whatever you saw." I turned around and saw The General himself staring me in the face. I looked into The Generals eyes, and realized that there was nothing in them. No compassion no love no caring. The pistol came up in slow motion I saw the bullet come out as fire exploded around it. I felt the bullet slice through my forehead, and then I saw and felt nothing…


	19. Coma

Chapter by Lilmaniac

Ithiell-

Mercenary Military Base

May 26th 2009

0934 hours

"All right Erik, I see where you're going with this strategy, but I'm telling you that sending in troops from here won't work"

"And why not?" he asked as we stood around the 3-D hologram of the area. Jade was with us, and Marco was over at another camp.

"Because I've studied this area. You won't get five feet before you're swarmed" I told him, then indicated to the area. It was highly unstable ground, and the slope was too hard to climb, especially in the conditions of this planet. Erik didn't seem to understand that.

"Look Ian, I know, but we don't have a choice. If we're going to win this war we've got to work-"

"Sir!" A short young man popped his head into the tent, looking at me "There's an incoming transmission for you from a Sarah Ratcliffe. She says it's extremely urgent"

"Patch it through to here then" I said, hoping Erik didn't mind. From the look on his face, it was clear he didn't.

"I wonder what it could be about" Erik wondered as the map of the area was replaced by a smaller screen, and on that screen was the face of a young woman with dark brown curls. Her eyes looked troubled and terrified, all at once.

"General! We... I heard you were… are... friends with my commanding officer"

"Sergent Kessely? Yes, I am. Why?" I had a gut feeling this wasn't going to be good, whatever she said.

"Because... oh god how can I... because... he's been shot"

"What! Where! Where did they-!"

"The... behind a tent. He… bleeding badly... might, he might die" she swallowed, and I could see tears brimming her eyes.

I felt something between furious anger, and a complete numbness to her words. No... not Robert... not...

"Where is he now?" Erik demanded.

"In the camp's sick bay, but-"

"That's it. Let's go!" I snapped, grabbing Jade's hand and exploding out of the tent and not waiting for Erik. Had to find Amanda, and we all had to-

"Ian, wait!"

"I'm going Erik. I don't care about the storm!"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

104th Space Force Land Division Medical Camp

1233 hours

I stood there, staring down at Robert in the small bed. Several other people were there, but not so many. Very few people had returned from our last battle. We'd been damn lucky there. But... Robert...

Amanda was on one side, sitting the chair, bawling her eyes out. On the other side, Jade was calmly holding his limp hand, staring down at his unmoving body. His head was bandaged, but blood still seeped through. He'd been shot clear in the head, from close range, so there was little chance of him surviving much longer.

Erik was beside me, probably thinking the same thing as I was. This was the second one, and each time it seemed too close to be just a coincidence. Karen... well, I had no idea why she'd been targeted, but it was clear to me why Robert had. He'd gotten too close, and payed the ultimate price for it.

Marco and Becky had been delayed by the vicious storms that whipped just outside the encampments they were in, so it would be some time before they got here. We had just barely made it here before then.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" Erik said finally, and I nodded.

"He must have known who it was. That's the only reason I see of getting him out of the way like this"

"Yeah" Erik sighed, rubbing his temples. He was exhausted. We all were.

"Come on you Irish idiot, don't die on us" I heard Jade hiss with ferocity, and I looked over and saw silent tears streaked down her cheeks. She set his hand down gently, wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, and walked out of the tent.

I stepped to go after her, but Erik stopped me.

"I'll take care of her" he said, then nodded to Amanda "You just take care of your other angels"

I nodded, and he left. I turned back to Amanda and Robert, hoping we would all pull through this. Black Angels weren't supposed to die like this...


	20. Friendship

Jade

I stormed out of that tent, fury and anger mixing in with heartache. Sure, Robert and I had our differences, but that didn't mean I wanted him to die!

I fought back tears as I walked, looking up, beyond the force fields, to see the horrid storm that was raging above us. Everyone else was probably in their tents, cowering at the terrifying lightning strikes, and the eighty K an hour winds.

"Jade!"

I knew that voice. I didn't look back, gritting my teeth and clenching my fists as I continued to walk on, not really knowing where I was going.

"Jade, stop!"

"Why!" I screamed, turning back to him "Why should I stop! My brother is going to die, and I can't do a _thing_ to save him!"

"Jade, I know how you feel" Erik said gently as he reached me.

"Robert's gonna die, and it's all because of that fucking 'General'. I'll kill him when I find him. I'LL KILL HIM!"

My voice broke then, and tears welled up in my eyes, cascading down my cheeks as another lump formed in my throat. I fought it back as Erik sighed.

"I know what you mean. But you can't just give up. We've got a war to fight here, and I can swear to you we'll-"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE FUCKING WAR! I CARE ABOUT ROBERT! WHY DON'T YOU GET THAT!" I screamed, running and beating his chest as hard as I could. He managed to stop me by grabbing my wrists, holding them gently but firmly as I kept trying to hit him.

I was just angry and upset, and Erik was the first person there. Soon I was just standing there, openly crying, as Erik held my wrists. I was a mess...

"Jade, please. Calm down"

"I don't want to calm down" I gasped suddenly. He let my wrists go, and I turned to the first tree inside the encampment that I saw, beating it as hard as I could.

"Jade!" he cried, and seconds later my face was pressed against his chest. He held me tightly, trying to stop me from hurting myself anymore, I guess. I felt my hands throbbing with pain...

"Come on Jade, don't loose it now. I need you to help me find this guy" he hissed into my hair, and something inside me just gave in. I gave in to my pain, and my tears, and his comforting embrace, and just let go.

I'm pretty sure I soaked his shirt, but he didn't seem to care. He just held on to me tighter, whispering into my ear, and stroking my hair soothingly. He was such a good friend... he cared so much...

After a little while I pulled away, looking up at him. He wiped away the last of my tears with his thumb, then pushed back a strand of hair that had gotten loose back behind my ears. I forced a smile up at him.

"Thanks Erik. Sorry for… you know"

"It's ok. Now what do you say we finish this war?"

"You know it dude" I laughed, punching his shoulder and letting the old me shine through for just a few seconds.

"Did you just call me dude?" Erik laughed, disbelieving.

"Yep, dude. Forget the General title, you're a dude now to me"

"I cannot believe you're calling me dude" he said, shaking his head as we went back to the sick bay. I slipped my arm through his, knowing we'd both be there for each other now.

"Dude is as dude does"

"Dude is NOT a word you should..."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Okay, you got it?"

"I got it?"

"Marks? How about you?"

"Up and ready to go"

"Good" I tapped my earpiece, turning it off. I then turned to Ian and Erik on my small watch-phone.

"Okay, we're off. Wish us luck"

"Good luck. We'll be coming around the embankment on the other side"

"Right. Not a prob. We'll meet you there. Jade out" I turned it off, then looked at my disgruntled troop ahead of me. I felt a little nervous, but I knew they could all do it.

"All right. Everyone got everything they need?"

They all nodded. Even my brother. He would be at the back, out of harms way.

I know I was treating him bad, but he still had to learn that this wasn't a game. And I was afraid of loosing another brother.

"Harper!"

"Yes ma'am?" he came up to me as I signaled my platoon to move out.

"Ryan, don't get in the way. Just stay back and be a good little brother, all right?" I hissed, grabbing his collar.

"But…"

"Do as I say Harper!"

"Yes ma'am" he grumbled, turning and joining the back of the ranks. Good.

I made my way to the front, switching my rifle to my other shoulder. I was so loaded down with weapons I was surprised I could move so well.

We went along, with the fear in me building, but I knew I could do it. We'd all be ok…

I hoped. Too bad hope isn't the only thing you need when fighting.

Then I saw the place we were supposed to investigate, and I knew, hope was bloody useless right now.


	21. More Politcs

****

Gphaw

Erik

__

Mercenary Military Base, Nertana

May 31st

1145 hours

I had just turned the control of the recon operation to Jade , I knew she could handle it. Ian and I turned our attention to other matters. A few days after Robert's injury Ian had been named supreme commander of the Changeling Forces on Gurwon and, due to the small amount of qualified generals in the mercenary field, it was very likely I would be named the supreme commander of the Mercenary forces very soon. For the time being Ian, and I, as well as Ebatorn Dusmont of the Gurwon loyalist forces were discussing the attacks on the cities.

The Gurwon rebels (which were of course Yerks) had been doing repeated bombing runs over the cities. Originally the loyalists had been doing the bombing runs, however the cites controlled by the rebels were mainly in the poles and the long flights plus the skill of the anti aircraft operators had shut down those runs. Now most of the city was on constant alert. Ian and I wanted to put in a request for Marines, but the Gurwon High Chancellor (Governor) of Nertana didn't want us to.

"General Bishop, I see your concern but I don't think it is wise to pull an entire Platoon of Marines out of their current encampments to defend this city." Dusmont said. I clenched my teeth and tired not to yell (fortunately in the Gurwon culture clenching your teeth meant you thought what had just been said was wise but contrary to what you believe).

"Chancellor, your elected duty us to defend this city, the welfare of the offensive effort be damned."

"Be that as it may General I have full faith in the ability of you and Commander McBarnes' troops."

"Then you are a fool!" Ian said. "I'm not sure if you _get _this but Erik's forces are almost entirely composed of Marine Corp rejects. My forces are spread thin enough as it is, I had to beg and call in about a million favors to get the troops I have now, I can't afford to bring anymore here, if I do the cities on the immediate polar border will fall. The forces I have here are young and untrained in nitrogen weaponry. We need the Marines."

"I still fail to see how you can see an attack in all this…" I lost my temper at the Chancellor.

"Oh open your _eyes _what have all the bombings been centered on? Barracks, turrets, shield generators, the whole thing is softening us up for an attack, I have Jade's platoon on recon right now, and they've already reported four enemy encampments within 40 miles of the city."

"General Bishop, my decision is final, I will not jeopardize Operation: Dragon's Fire for the gut instinct of two barely out of high school officers. If you two are truly as talented as that windbag Bernson claims," (This marks the only occasion where I agreed with this pacifist moron on something: Jake was a wind bag.) "You will be able to drive off any attack on you. That is my decision and it is final. Dismissed ." He made a Gurwon salute by slapping the inside of his knees then walked off.

I murmured a few unflattering comments about the man's mother under my breath. The room we were in was made of the bright orange Gurwon stone. There was a large table in the middle that had the positions of all troops in the 1st mercenary army, the 501st Changeling infantry, and the 102nd Marine platoon. There were several swivel chairs on around the table each having a hole cut in it for the seated to put their tail in if they had to.

As a General this was my war room, I walked through the door opposite the one the Gurwon had walked out of. It led to a hall made of the same stone. Ian and I walked past the various doors written in a special kind of slate that reformed whatever words into the native language of the one viewing it. Most of these doors led to small dorms for soldiers. The dorms were all filled to capacity by either Gurwon or Human mercenaries.

Most of the soldiers were men (there were only 3 women) who failed some part of the Marine Corps program, the Gurwon who were here were part of the _Mukata Frendom _or gift army. Gurwon tradition demanded that the Gurwon give any military ally command of a certain number of troops. Working with the Gurwon was good for me. I had integrated my units against the wishes of the Chancellor and had used the Gurwon as a way to train my troops, that way seeing the Gurwon for the first time would not be such a shock to them when they entered battle.

We walked to the end of the hall. There was a large door made of the same stone. I placed my hand in the center and the stone became warm, it then literally vanished, I walked into my office. It was in a large enclave in the stone. It was lit by a large hole in the stone that could be covered in a time of danger or bad weather . Today however the deep pink sky and then sun was out. I sat at my large desk made of a luxury type of wood from the local jungle. On one side of the room I had placed large photos of Karen and I including a portrait that we had made in France. The other side had a gun cabinet that included the latest in Nitrogen weaponry.

On my desk was kind of soup that I was about to eat when I had been called to the meeting. I offered Ian some but he refused. Ian sighed. He was wearing the traditional attire of the Changeling leaders a long red robe trimmed in gold. A fucking bull's eye as I saw it, if he wore that in the field the Yerks would take all of three seconds to mow him down.

"No matter where I go it seems there's always obstructionist morons to deal with." Ian said. I changed the subject, Ian was even more volatile when it came to pacifism in war than I was.

"How's Robert?"

"Better, he's showing some signs of waking up, they said that the bullet went around his brain so he isn't suffering any long term damage to his brain, but they also that the trauma was severe enough that he could be in a coma for as long as 5 years."

"Have you called Rally, maybe she could find some herbs to speed up the healing process," I took a spoon full of soup and spit out. "Or at least give this fucking ooze some taste!" Ian managed a weak smile.

"I tried to get her, the High Council said she was needed elsewhere."

"Wouldn't be the Changeling University would it by any chance would it?" I said bitterly.

"Sadly yes, the council is trying to pretend the Yerks are gone, don't worry about Robert man he'll pull through, knowing him he's got the grim reaper in a choke hold and is kicking him in the butt." I stood up.

"Hey I can't help worrying if he dies Becky's gonna go nuts."

"Hey have you heard from her?"

"No nothing, I've done everything I can to get in touch with her the damn Andilates have been fighting me tooth and nail, say she's on some kind of 'top secret mission' and can't be bothered. I wonder if that crowd even understands the concept of love, I swear it's like I'm working with the Jedi or something." A watch I was wearing began to flash I pressed a button on it and Jade's face appeared.

"Srgt.," I said. "Report!"

"We did a visual search of the area, no shots fired, no casualties on either side, we were not noticed."  
"What's the status on the enemy encampments."

"It's as you feared sir, our visual scan reveals an army of 5 or 6 thousand well armed, the forces are almost entirely Gurwon."

"Great," I said. "give me an ETA."

"Sir we can't be sure, I'm still not certain if these bases are mobile, it's very possible that these units are waiting for reinforcements."

"Do you have photos?"

"Sure do, I'll send to your E-mail address."

"Thanks Jade, you guys get back home, Bishop out." I went to my E-mail account and saw the message Jade had sent. I looked at the images, they weren't a good sign.

__

War Room

"Okay men as you can see the enemy is equipped with very high tech weaponry," I was addressing my sergeants. They were all dressed in the beige mercenary uniform issued them. There were ten sergeants. Each commanded a platoon of 40 soldiers. I had a total of 400 Soldiers plus Jade's platoon. For the most part the men were in good condition, but they had been rejected from the US army for various reasons which meant they were not ideal for fighting. I continued.

"Besides their weaponry they are also able to enter their Gurwon trances. If any of you have seen _The Matrix _you know what that means: they are almost impossible to hit with regular bullets, that's why if any of you are untrained in Nitrogen weaponry now is the time to tell me." Tyler Burlington raised his hand.

"Sir, I am unclear as to the purpose of the weapons as well as the way to handle it sir!" I sighed.

The Gurwon could enter a trance that gave the ability to dodge bullets. Regular lead bullets and any energy based weaponry was poor for the purpose of attacking them. However a new form of bullet had recently been discovered. It was made of solid Nitrogen. The bullet was expensive to make and had to be kept in a special casing to allow it to remain at absolute 0 (0 degree Kelvin). The bullet was useful because it's extreme cold temperature made it invisible to someone in a Gurwon trance. This made it easier to hit them with. Nitrogen bullets could be used in regular guns because it was only the casing of the bullet itself that kept the Nitrogen in its solid state.

An injury inflicted by a nitrogen bullet was a bad one. The extreme cold of the bullet would freeze any flesh instantly upon contact. The damage to the tissue would be severe and difficult to repair. Bullet wounds were always nasty but from what I heard from the guys at field hospital these latest weapons were the worst.

The only true danger in handling a nitrogen bullet is if you were to break the protective seal around the bullet that detached after leaving the barrel of the gun. It was, as they say, idiot proof.

"OK Sergeant Burlington," I said. "Do we have an understanding?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Ok, Sergeants, go to your platoons and ready them, I have a feeling we'll be in battle soon.


	22. Seige

****

Erik

__

IWalked out of the base and into the city. Most of the building were made of the same stone. It was hot but dry, a sign of another impending storm. There weren't many trees around the city. The ones that were, were the red trunk yellow leaved trees that bore _Rapa _fruit. I walked along the rather wide streets past several residences.

Many of the people I passed were Gurwon. Most of them waved and few addressed me by name. I walked to a large archway that led into a market square. There were many shops and carts positioned around the area. There were also restaurants and stores. This was the hub of this spaceport town. Although lots of it was in disarray from the bombings.

I walked over a pile of debris and headed towards a local shop.

"Hey there stranger." I jumped and drew my pistol, then I turned around and saw Melissa smiling. She was not in her uniform which made me wonder,

"Hey aren't you on duty?" I asked.

"No, I got an early leave, plus things are quite in my division most of the forces are in Operation: Dragons Fire, you know the attempt to retake the Polar cites our division is on standby for now, we're I'm the only one who came here though."

"Why was that?"

"Many reasons," She was dodging but I let it go. "I also wanted to be near the spaceport so I could make sure the place was secure." I was then I noticed the two pistols on her hips. She continued. I felt a rumble in my stomach.

"Ugh, I'm starving, you want to get something to eat." She smiled and followed me. I took her to an outdoor café. We sat down and ordered our drinks. Melissa looked at the menu for a long time. When we ordered our food Melissa spoke again.

"Erik, I heard about Robert, I wish I could say I could help you but, I'm sure this guy is on the inside, or at least has people there, I don't know if you heard this but one of Jake's men, the one he assigned to investigate The General, turned up dead. "

"Yeah I head, but hey that might have been a Yerk attack."

"I doubt it, I think this guy is a Gurwon general, Jake's man was killed in a ritual execution used by the early Gurwon," as if to show how times had changed the bells at the Gurwon Cathedral began to ring. I had debated going to Mass today but decided that I would have to devote my time to my official duties first, I did take the time to cross myself though. "Erik you need to be careful, I get the feeling that The General wants you dead too…"

"Can we not talk about this?" I asked.

"Sorry…" She said. We waited a few more minutes then our food arrived. I said a blessing and ate. We finished our meals, I looked up and saw a couple eating at another table, they were making kissy faces and holding each others hands. I groaned slightly, Melissa looked at me.

"It still hurts doesn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah," I said my voice breaking. "I just I miss her so much…" I tried to compose myself, Melissa reached over the table and took my hand, she patted it reassuringly.

"It's ok, it's ok…" I looked at her through my tear swollen eyes. I don't remember who started the kiss but I do remember what happened next. We broke the kiss and I looked at her.

"I'm sorry, it's, it's too soon."

"I under…" the bottom half of a torso fell on out table splattering blood on us both. Air raid sirens went off.

"Shit!" I said. "I need to get back to the…" A mortar fell close to us, the concussion knocked me to the ground and Melissa landed hard on to of me. She scrambled up and I did too, more explosions sounded, all around people were running. I then saw why…


	23. Route

A small group of Gurwon ran into the square, they were wearing Kevlar vests and carrying M-16's. It was only about ten, then I saw another twenty burst through. All around me I heard the sounds of fighting. They killed a woman and her baby with a few shots. They began to advance. Melissa and I drew our pistols.

"I've only got one clip…" I said. Melissa reached into her shirt and threw a clip at me.

"Now it's two get some cover." I dove behind a broken wall. The restaurant I was eating at collapsed in mortar.

"I'm Ok." Melissa said. I grabbed my watch/phone and spoke into it.

"This is General Bishop, all soldiers mobilize and converge on city square immediately we re under attack, lets drive the bastards off." I then popped up from behind cover and fired a few shots.

I think I need to explain military tactics to you my reader, rule number one in urban combat, cover is magical. The Gurwon who were advancing were taking cover as fast as they could and were firing at other fighters who were also under cover. It looked like a whack a mole game, except the moles could blow you shit out of your colon.

I hit two advancing Gurwon, their gray blood exploded out behind them. I saw that turrets and some militiamen were also attacking, this included our waiter at the restaurant, and a Gurwon nun (the Gurwon Pope had decided that all of the church members could fight in the war). I went back under cover. My watch went off again.

"Erik, this is Jade, I just got back what the fuck is happening here?"

"Shouldn't you know haven't those camps starting moving ?"

"They hadn't when I was there." I pondered this as I shot at a few more Gurwon then it hit me. I contacted my men.

"Rescind last order! Repeat rescind last order! All units guard city entrances." I may need to mention here that whole area was filled with gunfire and explosions. I got up to fire, then stopped, I was making no leeway. I decided to go back to the old fashioned fighting. Me hands grew to twice their original size. I gritted my teeth to play through the pain. My ears migrated to the top of my head. My teeth became fangs, my mouth a snout.

When I was fully cougar I jumped from behind cover. I had surprised the Gurwon and they began to banter in their native tongue. I pounced on one of the fighter and bit into his neck. The cougar brain found the taste of the gray blood odd. I pounced on another Gurwon who was fighting a militiaman and bit his neck. I heard a gunshot and a burst of bullets missed me by mere inches. My watch, which was now working in thought-speak mode since I couldn't talk into it anymore went off.

(Genera, we have wounded!) It was one of my units, followed by.

(Medic! Medic!)

(We have injured)

(Medic! Medic! Man down! Man down!)

(We have a casualty)

(Casualty!) I fought while hearing this in my head. Then I heard Jade's voice.

(They've taken the Spaceport!)

(What!) I yelled in thought-speak while fighting another Gurwon, It was a miracle I hadn't been shot yet. (East gate unit, re-take the…) an explosion rang out and a plume of smoke rose from the area where the space port used to be.

(Holy shit! General the spaceport is destroyed , and they're heading for the chancellors office)

(casualty, casualty!) Somehow I managed to kill the last Gurwon in the area.

(Square is secure!) I said. I must have set off a chain reaction

(WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEE their on the retreat Erik, the west entrance is secure.)

(General we've routed the attackers at the east gate). _Good_ I thought, _two more entrances to go_.

(East and west gate, get those units that are already in.) In the next ten minutes I heard confirmations all around, each gate was secured and the invading forces had been decimated. Mission accomplished! I de-morphed and ran over to where Melissa had taken cover.

"We did it Melissa we…" I stopped cold. Melissa was lying on the ground there was a large bloodstain on her belly. I walked over to her and got the smell of her own stomach acid cooking her other organs. She groaned I spoke into my watch.

"We've got wounded send a…"

"Too… late…" Melissa said through pain. I knelt down and cradled her I patted her on the back trying to reassure her to make her feel safe.

"No it's not," I lied. "it's not, we're gonna get you some help don't worry…"

"Erik, I've spent years training, I know a fatal wound, uh," she winced in pain.

"No, you hang on, you can't die on me, not you too…" I felt tears coming to my face.

"Ere… I'm not gonna make it get the Father from the Cathedral here…" as if on cue the nun ran over she had the father in tow, I noticed he had been giving last rites to some of the enemy. The father knelt beside Melissa and administered last rites. At the end of ceremony her eyes dilated and she died.

"No!" I sobbed then looked up and saw a Gurwon staring at me he lifted a gun to my head..

"We may have lost the battle but at least we can take out an officer."

"No brother!" The Father said. The Gurwon reached for the trigger, and his head exploded. I turned around to see my rescuer and smiled.

"Good to have you back Robert." I said.


	24. Jades Fight

****

Chapter by Lil Maniac

Jade

There had been no time to prepare. None at all. One minute, I'm returning back to camp. The next? Madness. I grabbed two guns, a rifle and a pistol... and ran... I saw Marks, and grabbed his arm. He stared at me.

"Alpha, Beta and Gamma teams! One to the city, and two on either side of the space station! We need that station secured!"

"On it Sergeant!" He grabbed his earpiece, and started barking out orders to whoever he came across. I quickly repeated the news in the same way.

"Harper!"

"Here sir!" Ryan was suddenly beside me.

"You're going to the city with Alpha team! Go!"

"On it!" He ran off, and I ran towards the space station...

"Sarge! We're under fire!" Someone cried through my earpiece. 

"Stealth techniques! GO!" I ran, ducking when I approached the war zone. The noise of gunfire deafened me instantly. I saw my target, aimed. And gave it all I had. Chaos! Men were dropping like flies!

I saw a guy I'd trained with go down, a bullet lodged in his brain... remembered Robert... That's it. I'd taken enough. I tossed my guns to the ground, shifting in spite of Erik's words.. he'd just have to deal with how I fought.

I became a Jinnaw. A creature from the Changeling home world, that looked like a cross between a wolf and a large cat. My fur bristled, dark as the night, and I exploded into action. One down! Two! Three! Still, my men and women were falling.

"Get away from the spaceport! BOMB!" Someone screamed, and I quickly turn and ran... KKBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM! The explosion knocked me off my feet and deafened me... I could feel my ears start to bleed. Thousands of tons of metal came screeching to the ground... more explosions... so much smoke... I didn't even realize I was human again until I tried to move.

I scrambled to my feet, my ears ringing, choking on dust... tried to call out... "Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me?" I coughed, hoping someone would still have their earpiece with them.

"Not who you think" came a voice, and I grabbed my dagger from my back pocket, spinning around to find the voice in the thick smoke, my eyes stinging... where... "Ah!" someone kicked the dagger out of my hands, and then I was knocked down. I cried out, then suddenly found I was pinned underneath someone.

"You humans always cause so much trouble" a Gurwon voice loomed above me, smiling. I tried to kick him off. He found a way to hold me down... something glistening...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed as my own dagger was thrust into my thigh... the pain... oh god... he wouldn't let me move...

"Ah, music to my ears. Now to finish it" he raised the dagger, aiming it straight for my chest... eyes glistening with hatred...

"NO!" A scream, and then something hit the Gurwon, going sideways. Both tumbled to the ground, out of sight. I heard a scuffle... grabbed my leg, trying to get up... found he'd done more damaged to my arms then I'd realized... I looked over to see a head of chestnut brown hair, over my attacker... fighting... looking like he was going to win... BAM! Ryan suddenly fell back, clutching his shoulder.

I looked over. saw the Gurwon pointing a gun at me... Ryan was moaning... I was dead. I knew it. Then came the sound of gunfire, and I watched in horror as countless holes appeared in his chest, and he fell, never to get up again... My eyes suddenly didn't want to focus... and I closed them... Then everything went blank.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-

__

Mercenary Med-bay

June 3rd 2009

0600 hours

Slowly, I became conscious. I didn't know how long I'd been out for... but I felt groggy...

"Please don't die" Came the whispered voice, and a piece of my hair was moved from my face... then a tear hit my eyelid... I flinched, and whoever it was beside me jerked back. I groaned, my eyes fluttering open on their own, to look up at the man above me.

It was Erik. And he looked...

"Hey" he forced a smile, and I managed to smile back.

"Hi. How long have I..."

"Two days. Last check-up... you weren't going too good... the doc thought you were gonna die... he hit the femora artery ... there was a lot of blood..."

"Yeah, well... what do doctors know" I managed to sit up, with Erik sort of helping me. Leaned back against the headboard, looking around. And my eyes landed on the two figures coming through the door.

Robert and Amanda. They came in... I'm sure my jaw was on the ground the entire time... and hugged me. I managed to mildly hug back, finding I was more bandaged then I thought...

"R-Robert? I... I though you... how...?" Tears pricked my eyelids, and I fought them back. Was I dreaming? Or was I dead? And Robert was...

"I'm... ok. Mostly. I've got a little... amnesia. I'm sure I was on the right track with my investigation, but... I can't remember a damn thing for about thirty minutes before I was shot."

"Robert, don't strain yourself. You know what the doctor said" Amanda scolded, hugging him anyway.

"As I just told Erik... what do stupid doctors know?"

"A lot more than you" Erik retorted, giving me a look. I had to grin at him... Then I saw the person on the bed next to me.

"Ryan? What's... what's wrong with him?" I demanded, grabbing Erik's shirt. He sighed, looking at me.

"The Gurwon... He was using some kind of prototype gun, it was made of uranium it's causing a form of blood cancer… He's dieing..."

"But... what... there's gotta be something we can do for him!" I cried shrilly, looking at my brother... his lips were blue... face was white and clammy-looking...

"There is. But..." Erik stopped talking, and I looked at him. He stared at me like... "He needs a blood transfusion Jade. And you're the only one that has the right type of blood" Robert said, and Erik gave him a death glare. Robert, of course, ignored it. His head was still bandaged...

"All right. I'll do it. Anything for my brother"

"Jade, you have to understand that you could be putting yourself at risk too... you've already lost so much blood already..."

"Erik, I don't care. He's my brother, and I'm not going to watch him die" I gave him a look that told him I meant every word I'd said. He finally sighed, nodding at me.

"All right. Just let me tell the doctor" he got up, patted my shoulder, then took off. I looked back at my friends, glad they were ok.


	25. From Bad to Worse

Well, it took two days before they could attempt the blood transfusion. When they were done, I passed out for about a week. When I woke up... Ryan was gone. After freaking and almost killing myself with panic, Erik came and told me he was all right; he was awake and walking around again.

But...there was something in his eyes... something was wrong. even more than before... When I was let out of hospital, I went to find him. When I did, I realized he was smoking again.

"Erik, can I talk to you?"

"Sure. What about?" I sighed, watching as he took another puff... then I couldn't take it anymore. I stepped forward, yanking the cigarette from his lips, throwing it on the floor and stomping on it. He barely flinched.

"Okay. What's wrong with you"

"What's wrong with me? _ME?_ Erik, what's going on with _you_? You're all. jittery.. definitely not leader-like... not like you were before. What happened?" He avoided my stare. I stepped forward, grabbed his face in my hands, and turned him to look at me. "What. Happened?" He tried to look away from me... he was strong... but, then again, so was I.

"I... um... do you remember... oh god..." he started to cry, and I let go of his face, taking his hands instead.

"Take it easy... remember who?"

"M-Melissa Chapman?" I thought for a second. Then I remembered her. I had a class with her when I first came to America. But... she was in another camp, wasn't she? "Yeah. What..." "She... she... was with me in the last... she was killed in the last attack..."

"Oh my god" I gasped, watching as Erik covered his face with one hand. This was... I was shocked when Erik's knees buckled, and he fell. Glad no-one else was around to see this... still shocked at what he'd said... Melissa was... I'd _known_ her... she'd... I reached forward and put a hand on his arm. Seconds later his face was against my stomach, and he was full on sobbing... hugging my waist tightly.

I hadn't seen him like this since... since... Since Karen died. And all I could do was put my arms around him... stroke his hair... reassure him that I was still here for him... After a few minutes I felt him calm.

His breathing became slower. Finally, he stood up to face me. His face was as hard as steel again... his leader face. He leaned back on a tree, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.

"Erik, you know... I'm here for you"

"I know. Ditto" he said nonchalantly. He seemed embarrassed... I smiled, leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then walked off. If he needed to be alone, then I'd leave him alone...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

__

June 13th 2009

1223 hours

US Space Force Military Base

"You'd better be careful. I'm walkin' like an old granny now" I grinned as Marco picked me up and put me on the table, kissing my neck.

"I know. God I missed you..."

"Me too but... can we not do this here?" "Why not? More exiting" I pulled his face to mine, kissing him. He responded almost instantly. Pushing his chest on mine... hands exploring... Then I heard someone clearing their throat. I broke the kiss with Marco, looking around him to see Robert. He shook his head.

"Get a room"

"This is a room" Marco replied cheekily. I slapped his shoulder. "Sorry. We didn't think anyone would be in here at this time of day"

"Whatever. Take it somewhere else" I hopped off the table, and we did take it somewhere else. One of the conference rooms in the base, with a table. Not so bad, actually. (we found out later that there was a security camera in the room.) When we were... uh... done... we went back outside, then back into the city. We were all going to eat at some fancy restaurant to celebrate Ryan's recovery.

I kept my new little gun handy by my side (I'd lost my dagger indefinitely) in case of any problems. Marco did the same. We got to the restaurant at the same time as the others. We had a good meal, but before they brought dessert we were interrupted. A man wearing a space force uniform approached Robert.

"Sir!" He said. "Permission to speak privately."

"DE-nied!" Robert said, I was getting used to hearing all of the military tones around me but it was still weird. "Anything you can say in front of me you can say in front of my colleges."

"Very well, General Kessly, we have received a message from the Andilite high command. A communications unit going on a mission to set up a radar tower was ambushed en route to the target site. The unit was scattered pretty badly and…"

"Get to the point Lt."

"Sir, Warrior Thornton was among the unit…" I saw Erik's face fall, Robert murmured a string of curse words.

"What, does that mean?" I said glumly.

"It means Becky's MIA" Erik said, and he kicked over his chair.


	26. Friendship

****

Chapter by Gpshaw

Erik

I stormed into the Andilate base of operations. I was greeted by a Artish, I wasn't sure but I would be willing to bet he wasn't a day older than 16.

(Sir you can't go beyond this point) I was walking towards a door that would lead to the main Prince in charge of the operations. I had some choice words to say to him (it was always a him) because Becky had disappeared 10 days earlier and the Anidilates had failed to inform me of it.

"Artish," I said with a sneer. "If you don't get the fuck out of my way I am going to rip off your tail blade and shove it up your ass."

(Sir, our species 'asses' aren't big enough to…)

"It was sarcasm you emotionless cunt!" Robert yelled and I was half afraid he was going to fire.

(You can drop the attitude human you should leave now…)

(Artish,) A familiar voice rose. (They're with me.)

(War Prince Aximi) The aritish said. ( I didn't know your ship had arrived.)

(It did, now I suggest you step aside I want to see the War Prince myself.) Ax was looking at him with a cold stare. The Artish backed down and Robert and I were allowed in. The Prince was at his desk reading a Aniliate _Soldier or Fortune _magazine he looked up at us with his stalk eyes. He saw Ax.

(what is it War Prince?) He asked ignoring us.

(I think that these people here have something to ask you.) Robert stepped forward his eyes blazing with rage.

"What the hell is the matter with you? How could you wait ten fucking days to tell us about it?"

(Most of the unit returned we were unaware that the entire platoon wasn't)

"Becky looks nothing like the rest of you freaks of nature, sorry ax," Robert snarled. "You might have killed her!" Ax looked angry, this was apparently the first he was hearing of this.

(Is this true Prince? Have you been withholding information from the human forces.)

(Sir telling them about that would only enflame these emotional creatures, it would be best to allow us to…)

(_Those emotional creatures single-handedly ended the Yerk invasion no thanks to you I might add_) Ax's thought speak was loud and hurting my ears. The prince stammered but Ax cut him off. (I want all data on the lost members now, bring it up.) The prince typed on his computer and a map of one of the Gurwon rivers appeared.

(They set out 20 days ago at the river city of Curtnanta) A white dot appeared on the map. (They followed the river of ten days, as you know the rivers have a damn strong current, 'bout here," another dot appeared . (We received this transmission.) Becky's voice came over.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is andilate communications unit Isaac Debbie 52 we are encountering heavy fire, repeat," The sounds of guns going off almost drowned her out. "heavy fire, we are taking on causalities, mission is being aborted, I repeat mission is being aborted, we need a rescue team out here ASAP, oh no! The hull has been breached we are going down, repeat we are going down ah…" The transmission cut off.

(Most of the crew was able to make it back,) The prince said. (You're looking at a fifty mile search area…)

(You mean you haven't sent a rescue team.)

(We thought there was no nee…)

(I will assume Prince, that there will be a team of your men helping us in the search.)

(I can't do that, but I can get you a boat.) Ax looked angry but he calmed himself down.

(See that it's ready to go tomorrow, is that OK with you Erik?) He asked.

"Hell," I said I'm ready to go now, Robert?" Robert smiled.

"I won't leave her out there to die, and Jade and Marco will be on board."

"I'll get my men ready Ax, we'll be in Cura whatever tomorrow!" I started to walk out.

"Hey you aren't trying to leave us out are you?" A female voice said. I turned to see Rachel and Tobias standing there. I had heard about Rachel's 10 hour labor which gave the couple a boy and a girl. I hadn't heard from the personally since Karen died. We walked out together. None of us wanted to face the real chance that Becky was already dead.

XXXXX

As we walked out Rachel stopped.

"Wait," She said. "I need to go somewhere." We followed her to the entrance to the Cathedral. I knew why we were here, Melissa was buried in the catacombs here. We came to the entrance. One of the monks waiting by the door stopped us. He was a Gurwon monk, he was wearing a black robe as a sign of mourning for the attack.

"My brothers," He said looking at our guns. "I am sorry but you cannot take those in with you."

"We need to, we need defense." Rachel said.

"My sister you have nothing to fear on this holy ground. Give me your weapons, I will return them when you exit." The three of us looked at each other (Robert had gone to secure some troops.) and shrugged. Tobias put his pistol in the monk's hand. Rachel and I put ours in as well. I then reached into my ankle holster and put that pistol in. Rachel put her ankle holster in too. I took out both of my shoulder holsters and gave them up. Rachel reached into her bra and pulled out the gun hidden there. I took the knives off my calves and put them in the monk's hands.

The monk looked at s oddly but waved us through and we entered. I had been in cathedrals before, I even renewed my vows in Notre Dame. But I was unprepared for the inside of the Gurwon cathedral. It was made of the same stone as most of the other buildings. On the ceiling were several paintings of various biblical events. There were statues everywhere of Marry ,Jesus, Peter and numerous other biblical characters.

We walked towards the catacombs in silence. Above the entrance was a carving of Jesus' ascension into heaven as well as the Latin words that translated to Those who lay here rest until Christ's return. We walked down the stone steps feeling as it got colder as we walked further down.

Tobias wrapped his arm around Rachel who had started to shiver. We reached Melissa spot. She in a glass coffin adorned with flowers arranged in a cross fetche. It was a sword that made a cross and had crosses on the top right and left sides. She looked peacefully at sleep. She look beautiful, like Karen did… Rachel sniffled.

"Erik," She said softly. "You were with her, did she, suffer?" She asked. I didn't have the heart to tell her.

"No she was in shock, she didn't feel anything." Rachel looked slightly relived but she was still crying. She suddenly buried her head in Tobias' shoulder and cried aloud. Tobias rubbed her back gently and held her until she calmed down. I stayed for a few minutes after they left and looked at the grave.

Melissa Chapman

April 2nd 1986- June 1st 2009

I often wonder what God thinks of war, but I take comfort in knowing he will forgive and that he is always watching over us even when we are killing-

Karen Lanely Bishop - 1984-2009

****

I know brief chapter but I want to give more time to the talented one in this group. I'll give you a hint it ain't me.


	27. River Road

**Robert**

_Gurwon Port_

_1522 _

_June 14th 2009_

We left early in the morning. Or in the 'magic hour' as Erik so put it. The hour no-one ever expected. Three friggen something AM. We walked along, the air cold and stiff. I could actually see my own breath forming in front of my face, and my nose was turning to a block of ice. We were heading to a docking port. boat, not spaceship. and were each carrying the standard military weapons.

What really bugged me though, was the fact that I couldn't remember who The General was. I mean, I remembered... bits and pieces... it was like a curtain in my brain, blocking the memories... blocking the face in my mind. We reached the damn boat, where the Gurwon made sure we got on boat... said something about making sure we were free... we were scanned with a device Ithiell had made... and agreed to give to the Gurwons for a price. It worked out pretty well for us too.

We boarded, and soon the boat launched. We took our... posts... and I just sat there, not far from Erik and Jade, who were on either side of me. Marco, who was on the other side of Jade, was grinning and saying something to her... I sighed, hoping to God Becky was all right. Erik saw my face, and gave me a half-hearted attempt at a reassuring smile. It helped a little, but not much. As the searchlights were fiddled with, I took a moment to reflect on the past. I remembered meeting up with Becky again, during the original Yeerk war on Earth...

_... "So, hey" I said to her as we crossed paths in the Hork-Bajir valley. _

_She looked away from me, obviously hurt. _

_"I didn't know you were... that you cared so much" she said bitterly. My heart was being ripped to shreds, with her just being here. I knew I should've been sleeping, after all Erik's wedding was the next day, but... I couldn't. Not without saying... without apologizing to her. She needed to know... _

_"Look. I'm... I didn't mean to hurt you. And I still don't. But. for the sake of Erik and Karen... maybe we can just agree to a truce or something" She glared at me _

_"I just lost one of my best friends. And... and you want a truce?" She was right to be mad at me too. _

_"Becky, look... I... I know what you're going through. It kills, I know. But..." What else could I say? Sorry about your loss, but get with the program? Not my style of things... no matter what you might think. She sighed, looked at me... and agreed... and we did. Then, slowly, we became closer and closer as friends. My heart felt like I would break if I didn't tell her... and then, of course, we were told to leave. It was agony, not knowing what had happened to her... where she was... And then, of course... it was suddenly all over. The war... I darted around the survivors in the hospital... where was she! She couldn't be dead! No! Not... not without..._

_"Robert?" Came the voice. My head shot around to see... Becky. She looked fine. I almost cried from relief._

_Oh thank god! I thought... I thought you'd..." I ran and hugged her tightly, not caring about anyone or anything. She was soon hugging me back... and crying. _

_"We... we lost Jerry and James and... Anna..." she sobbed_

_"Whoa-what!" _

_"They're. they're all gone... And Erik.!" _

_"Where is he?" _

_"In a coma... has been for a while... god if he dies too..." she cried harder, digging her head into my chest. I hushed her gently._

_"It's ok. He wont die... he's too tough for that..." _

_"Tell that to the others. Oh God!" _

_"Shh, it's ok. I'm here. And I won't leave you. Never again Beck, never again..." I stroked her hair, kissing her forehead gently...And, for a long while, I never did. _

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hey, get up!" I jerked awake. Had I been sleeping? I looked up to see a heavily armed Hork-Bajir jabbing me with a rifle. "What?"

"Your shift. Go!"

"Okay, okay!" I jumped up, then took my position next to Erik. He had a cigarette in his right hand and was watching the smoke curl in the cold air. He seemed pretty distant... "You all right there Erik?" I asked, waving to get his attention. He suddenly jerked, then turned to look at me.

"Huh? What?"

"You ok?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Just trying not to dwell on the fact she might be... you know"

"Uh-huh. For me, its all I can think about" he said, staring back out into the waters, where the searchlights were scanning. I understood what he meant. He led a team of eight people. In the Earth war, four of them were killed. Then... came Karen. If Becky were lost to him too... I didn't know what he'd do.

Then again, neither did I know what I would do. She was my fiancée. I remember the day when we'd basically asked each other. It wasn't that fairytale kind of romantic stuff, it was real. It was, I want to marry you. If you want me too, that's cool. No, I didn't need to do that with Becky. She didn't need to do that with me.

She read me like a book, and I still thought of her as a wonder to behold. Every day I learned something new. And all because of her. She'd taught me there was hope for me. And that I could love. I'd never really loved before I'd met her.

Now, my heart was in danger of breaking I was that worried. If she died... then so would I. Erik still had some hope... but I had been gone from the moment I was conceived. I knew that now...

"Hey! We see something!" came a shout, and I jumped up off my chair and ran to the side of the ship. We looked down... All the searchlights were trailed on an object floating in the river. I squinted, trying to see. Erik was doing the same... The boat sidled up closer to it, and I finally realized what it was. It was a body.


	28. Mission Acomplished

**Erik**

The body was floating face up, most of the back of it's head was missing. It was too tall to be Becky though but I ordered it brought aboard just to be sure. The body had been floating awhile and the stench was horrible. Leaches and worms were already eating from the body and the skin came off at a touch as much as a it repulsed me I took a sample of the skin and placed it in a DNA reader. The reader was hot of the presses. It was based on the human genome project.

After a minute the device displayed a hologram of a blond man with dark green eyes.

"Oh God," Robert said. "Seth…"

"Who was that?" I asked.

"He was Becky's bodyguard, we might be close."

"OK, everybody fall out we've gotta search this area ass on fire, move it!" The boat pulled to the side and we split into groups, somehow Jade Robert and I ended up together. I had an AK-47 on my shoulder and was carrying a Mag-Light in my hand searching the underbrush of any sign of Becky.

The air was deathly cold and damp, the ground under our feet made a wet crunch some areas were so full of mud that we had to fight to keep our footing. All around there were small streams that moved rapidly towards the main river.

Scanning the area brought nothing to light. Suddenly there was a rustle in the bushes. I made a motion to Jade and Robert and they both turned out their light along with me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out some night vision goggles. I looked around in the greenish glow and saw what was making the noise.

"_Shit_" I sneered, "Taxxon Hork-Biajar mixed platoon headed our way."

"Looks like we aren't the only ones looking for Becky." Robert said.

"What do you mean?" Jade said.

"Becky has a lot of valuable equipment on her person," Robert said (we were whispering) I'll bet dollars to doughnuts these bastards have been searching for her since they attacked."

"Well," I said. "Least she's still free." Without batting an eye both me and Robert jumped up and fired directly at the platoon that had wandered too close. We mowed down all the Hork-Bajaiar and got the Taxxons as they tried to feed. I took out my flashlight and turned the goggles off. I then spoke into my radio.

"This is Crusade Commander to crusaders, we've got some movement around here so keep your eyes open, wrap up this search area and lets get the fuck back on the boat." I was searching through intestines and body parts for intelligence as I talked. Suddenly I found something. In a Hork-Biajar's pocket there was a hologram projector.

I accessed it and the image of one of the Gurwon leaders, now Visser 2, the figure was in the pale green of a hologram.

"I hope you decide to succeed this time fools as you couldn't caputre the red haired human and the technology she carried the last time. I want you to find her at all costs. She could be anywhere in the area where she was attacked. I wouldn't expect to find her alive though this jungle is a cruel place," Robert visibly flinched at this statement. "I suggest you find her quickly while my mole will try to keep the information from General Bishop I don't know how long that will last, don't come back without her, unless you wish to feel the wonder of a Gurwon torture chamber, end transmission!"

"Wonderful." I mumered.

"There's a good chance there's more of these fuckers hanging around." Robert said.

"Well at least we know why she was attacked, and that she may still be alive." Jade said.

"And that half the Yerk empire is searching for her, Ax" I yelled into my radio .

(Yes Erik?)

"Do you have any clue what Becky's team was carrying?"

(I thought you knew, she was attacked because of her mission.)

"Well I didn't what was she carrying?"

(I'll discuss it when you get back, now is not the time…)

"Fine, all team members finish out your current quadrant and report back to the ship, we'll have to move on."

_June 15th _

_Along the Urdban River _

_Approx. 143 miles from Nertana _

_June 14th 2009 2332 hours_

The ship moved slowly in the water, the searchlight scaning the banks for any sign that might point us towards Becky. Both Robert and I knew that this was like searching for the proverbial needle in the hay stack. For all we knew we could have passed the area where Becky was a long time ago, we were relying on luck a lot more than any of us wanted to admit.

I was still angry at what I found out last night…

(I am sorry I thought you knew about the situation.) He said once we had started moving again.

"What on earth makes you think that?"

(It was named after your team I assumed you were a part of Operation: Glass Dagger)

"What the Hell is…"

"Oh boy…" Robert said.

"You knew about this?" I asked.

"I had heard rumors, but I didn't know it was true, if I did I would never have let Becky go on this mission."

"What is this?" Tobias asked angrily. "And why weren't we told about it."

(It was only for the highest ranking of Andilates, and the highest ranking members of the British and German militaries, I was told it was an American general's idea so I assumed it was you Erik. Anyway it is project where large reflecting mirrors are set up at key locations on the planet. If there ever is a time that the forces of the collation are in danger, or if certain key members decide that the war has gone on too long, then they can access a specailed laser in orbit. The laser will hit each of the mirrors and evtually be reflected onto the Hurtna glacier.) I was shocked.

"The Hurtna glacier is the largest glacier on this planet, if you fire a laser on it…"

(It will casuse a massive flooding of the entire planet, it will flush the Yerks out.)

"You can't be serious, why on Gurwon would you think I'd have that idea?"

(Because you are the one who said you did whatever you could to win the war back on earth…)  
"Not at the expense of the earth itself. Killing those you are 'fighting for' when they're shooting at you is not the same as destroying an entire planet."

(I don't like it either but this goes far beyond me, this decsion was reached at the highest level of the Andiliate government, it cannot be recalled by me alone…) Robert sighed .

"And what was Becky carrying that made them want to attack?"

(Yes she was carrying the plans for the mission.)

"Wait, wasn't this supposed to be secret?"

(It was only the highest Anilates know about it.)

"The what the fuck happened?" Marco snapped.

(I'm going to figure that out now.)

He had com back an hour ago and confirmed what I had already guessed. There was a mole in the Andiaite forces. An investigation however I had no idea if it would work or not. Robert became increasingly worried and went to be alone, so Tobias came to take over the shift.

"So how are the kids?" I asked. Tobias gave a smile I have only seen on a proud father's face.

"Adorable, Alloran loves them, Rachel didn't like leaving them but I guess she wanted to see Melissa. Hey how are you holding up?"

"As well as I can under the circumstances, it seems everyone I take a romantic shine to dies."

"You and Melissa…"

"Shared a ten second kiss, it was too soon for me, and then the next thing I knew… damn I'm so used to guriella warfare that I can't adjust easily to losing people so…" I hear a whiz and Tobias fell down. I dove for cover and got on one of turrets.

"All hands on deck man the Fucking turrents ass on fire!" I yelled. "And searchlights following the turrets I don't want to be shooting in the dark." I saw Tobias, he was bleeding from the shoulder but otherwise seemed to be fine. Rachel had him cradled, I didn't break them up. A serachlight focused on me and I turned on my specialized goggles that would filter out any unescary light so I'd be able to see with the light right in my face. I saw ten Gurwon dug in and firing in bursts at the ship I mowed them down easily.

I heard more turrets firing soon the night became deathly quiet

"OK," I said. "Rachel get Tobias to the med-bay, Ax get Robert, Jade you come with me when Robert gets here, lets find out what those fuckers were guarding.

(NC)

**Due to Mature adult content, reader discretion is advised**

We saw where they had dug in. I searched all of the bodies but they were empty. We found the trail they used and followed it back. We saw a clearing ahead and in it was a camp. We ducked behind some bushes and watched for a few minutes. There were ten Gurwon there at least. Most of them were eating. I made a hand motion to move in. We unsoldered our guns and began to fire. We ran straight into the camp and killed most of the Gurwon before they could even think. Blood exploded everywhere. Suddenly another group ran out of the house and began to fire. I felt a pain in my arm, ignored it and took cover.

I put the nearest group in my sites and fired, the bullets riddled the bodies of the group blood flying out behind them. Soon all was silent. I walked out from cover and began to search the bodies. There was nothing interesting until I searched one of the bodies of the Gurwon that came out of the makeshift hut. It his pocket was a lock of red hair.

Robert saw it and ran over, he took in from me and whooped, he started calling Becky's name. I noticed something else in the far corner of the camp: a cage. I ran to it and shuddered at what I saw. Becky was lying in there, clad only in underwear she was breathing but she had bruises all over her body. There were bleeding wounds scattered about her and what was worse she had deep burn marks on her neck and inner thighs.

Robert came up behind me.

"Oh God no, is she?" He said, near tears.

"No, she's alive, but…"

"Holy fucking shit! What did they do to her?" Jade said looking at Becky.

"Torture," I said. "My guess is they didn't know what she had otherwise they'd be using all sorts of other devices…" one such device (that I had seen when I went to a museum on a day off) was especially nasty. I was made of wire, the wire had sharp barbs built in. It was made to be forced into certain, areas of the body, I didn't see one of those around and I felt better tight then. It seemed they ha beat, cut and burnt her badly but considering what they could've done… Robert picked the lock on the cage and ran in. He cradled Becky is his arms. I heard sobs in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I'll never let this happen again I swear, talk to me please." I walked into the cage and reached to take her pulse. The then her eyes opened a tiny bit.

"Erik…" she said weekly. "Robbie? I didn't think you'd come…"

"I promised I'd never leave you…"

"Erik, tell Ax I didn't tell them anything, the mission was completed I made sure of that." It ,must have been too much for her to speak so much. She fell asleep. Robert took off his shirt and did his best to cover her. We walked out, it was then I promised myself the Yerks would burn for this.

**Graphic huh? Well that's war for you… thanks to all that have reviewed so far I'll be building a cathedral in your honor, out of Chicken Selects, in my stomach (hey I can't afford a cathedral, I I could you think I'd be writing fan fics instead of buying the rights from KAA?)**


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